Israel says it is reopening the main humanitarian aid crossing point into the Gaza Strip as its army launches new attacks across Palestinian territory and steps up its offensive on southern Rafah despite ongoing talks for a ceasefire.
The Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, was retaken by Israeli forces and closed after a Palestinian rocket attack killed four of their soldiers. Despite the opening of the vital border at Rafah, on the border with Egypt, aid trucks had not yet started entering the enclave on Wednesday.
Israeli tanks took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, cutting off crucial aid supplies and preventing the wounded from leaving, after launching a military incursion on the city on Monday, ordering 400,000 people to evacuate. crowded eastern sector or face death.
Since then, dozens of Palestinians have been killed and injured. The Kuwaiti hospital, one of the few health facilities still operational in Rafah, received the bodies of 35 people and 129 injured, medical sources told Tel Aviv Tribune. Families, many of whom have already been displaced several times, are now moving to Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, although there is no safe place in the enclave.
“You can’t create a security zone in a war zone,” Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud said from Deir el-Balah. “Whenever people move from one place to another, they’re looking for basic needs and… basic necessities that are becoming very difficult to find right now. »
Wednesday’s attacks were mainly focused on the As-Salam neighborhood, east of Rafah. Al-Najjar Hospital, the region’s main treatment center, was forced to close after staff were evacuated fearing an imminent incursion.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, one of the main international mediators alongside Egypt and the United States, warned that Israel’s forced displacement of civilians from Rafah would constitute a serious violation of international law and exacerbate the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, he also called for “urgent international action” to “prevent the invasion of the city and the commission of genocide, and to ensure full protection for civilians in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law.” .
Statement| Qatar strongly condemns Rafah bombing, calls for urgent international action#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/4UVxSrYYXg
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) May 8, 2024
Egyptian media reported Wednesday that truce talks had resumed in Cairo with “all parties present.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a large-scale attack on Rafah would be a “human catastrophe”, while the UN children’s agency UNICEF warned that a A ground incursion into Rafah would pose catastrophic risks for children.
“Rafah is now a town of children who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza. If large-scale military operations begin, children will not only be threatened by violence, but also by chaos and panic, at a time when their physical and mental states are already weakened,” said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF.
The Gaza Health Ministry condemned the seizure of the Rafah crossing by Israel, which now controls all borders of the enclave.
“The closure of the Rafah border prevented the entry of trucks carrying medicines, medical equipment and fuel needed for hospitals and prevented the departure of thousands of injured and patients waiting to travel,” said a door -speech.
The ministry said at least 46 patients and injured people who were supposed to leave for medical treatment on Tuesday remained stranded – patients like Lama Abu Holi, an eight-year-old Palestinian girl.
“My legs hurt. I’m supposed to have an operation. Because the border post is closed today, I can’t travel,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
The threat of a large-scale attack on Rafah threatens to widen the divide between Israel and its main donor, the United States, which suspended arms deliveries to Israel last week.
