May 11, 2024, 9:59 PM
May 11, 2024, 9:59 PM
The Israeli army bombed this Saturday Gaza Strip and ordered the Palestinian population evacuate more neighborhoods in the town of Rafah, in view of a military ground operation that the international community is trying to avoid by putting pressure on Israel.
Israeli bombings hit Rafaha city on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses. The army announced the death of “dozens of terrorists” in the east of the city.
The UN warned that humanitarian aid is blocked since Israeli troops entered eastern Rafah on Monday and took the border crossing with Egypt, sealing a vital entrance to this famine-threatened territory.
Northern Gaza was also hit by Israeli bombings and at least 21 people died overnight in central Gaza. Their bodies were taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al Balah, the center reported.
The Israeli army requested this Saturday the evacuation of other neighborhoods in Rafahwhich are located just to the west of those that the Israeli army ordered to evacuate last Monday, in the eastern part of the Gazan town.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted a message in Arabic on the X network, in which he stated that “terrorist activities by Hamas in recent days and weeks” were observed in these areas.
– “Time is running out” –
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu insists on the need to launch an operation in Rafahwhere 1.4 million people were concentrated, mostly internally displaced by the war, considering that the last Hamas battalions are located there.
The Israeli army indicated that “about 300,000 Palestinians” They have already left the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah since Monday.
“We are lost and confused. What should we do? Where should we go? We have stopped covering the war because our families and our survival are the most important thing,” laments Wisam Yasin, a journalist.
Israeli forces also issued evacuation orders for Jabaliya and Beit Lahiain the northern Gaza Strip, where it claims Hamas is “trying to rebuild,” and reported a “major operation in the Zeitun district of Gaza City.
The war broke out on October 7 with an incursion by Islamist militants that killed 1,170 people and captured 250, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
After an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners during a truce One week in November, Israeli authorities estimate that 128 remain in Gaza, although 36 have reportedly died.
The retaliatory offensive of Israel has so far left 34,971 dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health.
The armed wing of Hamas published this Saturday on Telegram a video of an Israeli hostage who appeared with a swollen eye and a haggard appearance, accompanied by the labels “time is running out” and “your government lies.”
The hostage was identified by the Family Forum of Hostages like Nadav Popplewell, a 51-year-old Israeli-British.
The Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades indicated shortly after that the hostage died this Saturday from “wounds caused by Zionist warplanes.” [israelíes] that they bombed the place where he was detained, more than a month ago.
– International pressure –
The American president, Joe Biden warned Israel this week that it will stop supplying it with some weapons if it launches a large-scale offensive in Rafah.
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, described Israeli orders “unacceptable” evacuation plan and called on Israel “not to undertake” any ground operations in Rafah.
Michel also pointed out that “the border crossings must work fully and allow the passage of essential humanitarian aid in the midst of rampant famine.
The Kerem Shalom crossing was reopened on Wednesdaynext to Rafah, closed by Israel for three days after being targeted by Hamas rockets.
On Saturday there were new rocket shots from Rafah towards Kerem Shalom. One of them was intercepted by the Israeli air defense and the other three fell in uninhabited areas, according to the army.
Mediation efforts for a truce agreement appear to be stalling after indirect talks in Cairo this week ended without concrete results.
“There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas released the hostages,” declared Joe Biden at a fundraiser in Seattle, after having avoided the topic at three similar events on Friday.
According to a senior leader of the Palestinian movement, the latest proposal established a three-phase truce, each lasting 42 days. It also included Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners with the goal of “a permanent ceasefire.”
But Israel opposes ceasefire permanent until Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, is defeated.
