Israeli forces continued to bombard the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where the Israeli military offensive is worsening the humanitarian crisis in the already ravaged part of the Palestinian enclave.
Hamas said Friday its fighters were battling invading Israeli troops in the narrow alleys of Jabalia – the Gaza Strip’s largest refugee camp – in the fiercest clashes since soldiers returned to the area a year ago. a week ago.
Israeli forces have intensified their attacks in northern Gaza in recent days, displacing more than 100,000 people, according to United Nations figures.
Residents said Israeli tanks and armored vehicles drove deep into the heart of Jabalia while bulldozers demolished homes and shops.
From Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud said the Palestinian Civil Defense said at least 93 bodies had been found in 24 hours in the “streets and alleys” of Jabalia.
“They say there are more bodies in areas they can’t reach,” Mahmoud said.
At the same time, fighting between Palestinian armed groups and Israeli soldiers was also reported in other parts of the coastal territory.
Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, said Friday that their fighters had bombed an Israeli “command post” in the southern part of Gaza City.
Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida also said in a rare statement that Hamas fighters had targeted 100 Israeli army vehicles on all “battle fronts” over the past 10 days and caused casualties.
Lack of humanitarian supplies
Intensified Israeli bombing of Gaza comes as the United Nations and human rights activists continue to call for a lasting ceasefire to end the war, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians since the beginning of October. The war began after Hamas carried out attacks in southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,139 people.
Gaza faces severe shortages of food, water, medicine and other essential supplies because Israel has prevented aid deliveries.
This month, the Israeli army seized and closed the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt – a vital entry point for aid into southern Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee the town of Rafah as Israeli forces have launched intense air and ground attacks in recent days.
On Friday, the US military announced that the first trucks had begun delivering aid to Gaza, arriving at a temporary dock set up by the country off the coast of Gaza.
The US military’s Central Command said “trucks carrying humanitarian aid began disembarking” via the pier a day after it was anchored on a Gaza beach.
“This is an ongoing multinational effort to provide additional assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza through a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature,” the statement said.
The aid is being delivered from Cyprus, the easternmost member of the European Union, about 360 kilometers from Gaza. The first shipment included 88,000 cans of food from Romania, the 27-member bloc said.
Pier “does not replace”
But the U.N. and other observers said the pier was not a solution. Instead, they urged Israel to allow aid into Gaza through land crossings.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Friday that the U.N. had agreed to help receive the aid and arrange its delivery to Gaza from the floating jetty “as long as …the neutrality and independence of humanitarian operations” are respected. respected.
But Haq said land deliveries of aid remain the most effective way to combat the humanitarian crisis affecting 2.3 million people in Gaza.
“Given the immense needs in Gaza, the floating dock is intended to complement existing land crossing points for aid into Gaza, including Rafah, Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) and Erez (Beit Hanoon). It is not intended to replace any level crossing,” Haq said.
This was echoed by White House national security spokesman John Kirby, who told Tel Aviv Tribune on Friday that the pier “is an additive, not an alternative, to land crossings.”
“It’s not a replacement,” said Kirby, who added that the United States hopes to increase the amount of aid to Gaza in the next “72 hours or so.”
Still, Kirby said the pier itself “will not be enough on its own to deliver the food, water and medicine that Palestinians living in Gaza so desperately need.” “We need to open these land crossings as soon as possible,” Kirby said.
Israel says bodies of captives recovered
Furthermore, the Israeli army announced Friday that it had recovered the bodies of three captives in the Gaza Strip.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari identified the three men as Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Yitzhak Gelernter, who he said “were assassinated by Hamas while fleeing the Nova music festival on October 7 and their bodies were taken to Gaza.”
Hagari did not say where the bodies were found.
The Israeli government confirmed the death of German-Israeli Louk, a 23-year-old tattoo artist, at the end of October. But the family of Gelernter, 57, was “in total darkness” about his fate until Friday, his daughter, Yarden Pivko, told Channel 12.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the military operation in a statement Friday and reiterated his commitment to returning all captives, “both the living and the deceased.”
In response to this announcement, the Qassam Brigades declared themselves “skeptical” of Israel’s claims. He added that the only way the remaining captives could return alive was through a truce.
