The Israeli army continues its intensive bombing operations on the Gaza Strip this Saturday. On Friday, Israeli strikes caused the deaths of 240 people, according to Hamas.
The war against Hamas has resumed with a vengeance. The Israeli army confirmed that it had bombed “more than 400 targets” in the Gaza Strip this Saturday for a second consecutive day since the expiration of a truce with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which had allowed the release of hostages and the delivery of emergency aid.
“We are currently striking Hamas military targets across the entire Gaza Strip”Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israeli army, said early Saturday.
According to the Hamas government, 240 people are said to have died since Friday after the Israeli bombings.
Israel and Hamas blame each other for the end of the truce, which allowed the release of around a hundred hostages in exchange for that of 240 Palestinian prisoners as well as the acceleration of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said it had “proposed an exchange of prisoners and elderly people” among the hostages, as well as the handover to Israel of the bodies of captives “died in Israeli bombings”.
The Israeli army also confirmed late Friday the death of five hostages in the Gaza Strip, giving their names, adding that they “informed the families of their death”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Islamist movement of having “violated the agreement” and “fired rockets” towards Israel. And his government promised Hamas “the worst beating ever”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “deeply regret” the resumption of clashes in Gaza which “only shows how important it is to have a real humanitarian ceasefire”.
Hamas and Hezbollah
On Israel’s northern border, exchanges of fire have resumed between the Israeli army and the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas. Hezbollah deplored the death of two of its members due to Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, where a civilian was also killed. Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for attacks against Israel.
Israel has carried out airstrikes on Saturday near the Syrian capital Damascus, the Syrian Defense Ministry said, without immediately reporting any casualties. Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army did not comment on this information.
According to Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO which has a vast network of sources in Syria, the Israeli air force struck in the south of Damascus, “targets of Hezbollah.”
And, according to the Palestinian Wafa agency, Israeli forces carried out night operations in different sectors of the occupied West Bank, where Hamas also has support.
136 hostages in Gaza
The Israel/Hamas war was sparked by an unprecedented attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, which left 1,200 deadmostly civilians, according to the authorities.
In retaliation, Israel carried out devastating bombings against the Palestinian territory and launched a ground offensive on October 27. According to the Hamas government, more than 15,00 people, including more than 6,150 under the age of 18, died in Israeli strikes since October 7.
“If violence resumes at this scale and intensity, we can assume that hundreds more children will be killed and injured every day”declared the executive director of Unicef, Catherine Russell.
After the release of 110 hostages since the start of the conflict, including 105 during the truce, the majority women and minors, 136 hostages remain in Gaza in the hands of Hamas and other affiliated groups, Israeli authorities said.
On Friday, relatives and supporters of the hostages gathered in a Tel Aviv square, now known as Hostages Square, with Torah scrolls, representing the number of hostages remaining in Gaza.
“We were given a chance that people would come out, join us and return to their previous lives”testified, moved, Ilan Zecharya, the uncle of the hostage Eden Yerushalmi, aged around twenty. “To all, to our country, we ask for a new system” for the “liberation of everyone”he implored.
ADVERTISEMENTThe day after a visit to Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States, Israel’s main allies, remained “focused” on the release of the hostages.
“We continue to work with Israel, Egypt and Qatar to get the truce back on track”, declared US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Qatar, the emirate which announced the truce, called on the international community to act because the resumption of bombings “exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
Humanitarian aid
The truce had offered respite to the inhabitants of Gaza and allowed an acceleration of humanitarian aid, but this flow, although described as very insufficient by the UN, has now dried up.
“No aid trucks have entered since the resumption of Israeli bombing but preparations are underway for the evacuation of several wounded” Waël Abou Omar, head of communications at the Rafah terminal (south), a crossing point between Gaza and Egypt, told AFP.
The needs are immense in the territory already under an Israeli blockade, where more than half of the territory’s housing has been damaged or destroyed and 1.7 million people have been displaced by the war according to the UN.
ADVERTISEMENTThe health situation is deteriorating, with the World Health Organization (WHO) describing 111,000 cases of acute respiratory infection and 36,000 cases of diarrhea in children under five years old among the displaced in Gaza.
