Israeli forces killed at least 82 people through Gaza, including 39 in Gaza City only, because US President Donald Trump said he was thinking that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could occur this week.
The survivors of the Israeli strikes in Gaza City described “apocalyptic” scenes on Sunday while residents of the Sheikh Radwan district recovered parts of the victims’ body and rushed to save those trapped under the rubble.
Mahmoud Al-Sheikh Salama, a strike at Gaza City, said the attack had taken place at 2 a.m. (11 p.m. GMT on Saturday) while he was sleeping.
“We heard a strong explosion and shortly after, another. We rushed … and people were trapped under the rubble-four families, a large number of residents,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“We tried to search for survivors and managed to remove two people living under the debris after about three hours of struggle and to cross. We got two living – the others were martyred and are still trapped.”
Hani Mahmoud, from Tel Aviv Tribune, reporting from Gaza City, said that the current military climbing of Israel is “a scary and brutal reminder” of the opening weeks of the war due to the intensity and the scale of each attack.
“In the space of two hours, we counted at least seven air strikes through the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“Local community cuisine in the northern part of Deir El-Balah was also struck and three people were killed, including the main operator behind.”
Attack near help sites
Besides Gaza City, medical sources in hospitals told Tel Aviv Tribune that at least nine Palestinians had been killed by Israeli army fires near the morning near the aid distribution centers operated by Gaza Humaninian Foundation (GHF), supported by the United States and Israel.
Five were killed near the Netzarim corridor, located just south of Gaza City, which divides the strip in the middle. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that Israeli forces have killed at least 743 Palestinians in attacks on sites managed by GHF since the end of May.
The GHF has aroused many criticisms, with multiple reports that its entrepreneurs, as well as the Israeli forces, opened fire on desperate rescue seekers. On Saturday, two American entrepreneurs were injured with injuries not putting his life in danger during an attack on an aid site.
“The attack – that the preliminary information indicated was carried out by two attackers who threw two grenades to the Americans – occurred at the end of a differently successful distribution in which thousands of gas received food in complete safety,” the GHF said.
The United States blamed Hamas for the attack. The Gaza Government’s media office rejected these accusations.
“We categorically and unequivocally reject the complaints issued by the American State Department alleging that the Palestinian resistance launched explosives to American staff operating on sites managed by the so -called humanitarian foundation of Gaza – GHF ”, said the media office in a press release.
Possible ceasefire?
Meanwhile, the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to a cease-fire contract in the Gaza Strip began in Qatar.
“Negotiations relate to the implementation mechanisms and hostage exchanges, and positions are exchanged through mediators,” an anonymous official at the AFP news agency told.
The American president said on Sunday that there was a “good luck”, a captive liberation agreement from Gaza and a cease-fire contract could be concluded with Hamas this week.
“I think we are close to an agreement on Gaza; we could have it this week. There is a good chance that we have an agreement with Hamas during the week concerning several hostages. You know, we have a lot of hostages. But we think we did this this week,” Trump told journalists.
The American president is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in the White House.
Trump said last week that Israel had accepted the conditions for a 60-day ceasefire, and the negotiators could meet to carve out a way to ultimately put an end to the War of Israel in Gaza.
Hamas said on Friday that he responded to a proposal for a ceasefire of Gaza supported by the United States in a “positive spirit”.
On Sunday, before boarding his flight to Washington, DC, Netanyahu also said that he thought that his discussions with Trump on Monday to advance discussions on a Gaza agreement.
“I believe that the discussion with President Trump can certainly help to advance these results,” he said, adding that he was determined to return the captives held in Gaza and suppress Hamas threat to Israel.
Analysts say, however, that Netanyahu wants to continue the war of reprisals against Gaza until he can win enough political lever to reject legal affairs against him in Israel and build enough popular support to remain the head of the country.
Netanyahu is tried for corruption and is still largely blamed in Israeli society for the security failures that led to the deadly attack in Hamas on October 7, 2023.
“Israel and Netanyahu are not interested in reaching a ceasefire,” Adnan Hayajneh, professor of international relations at the University of Qatar, told Tel Aviv Tribune, adding that there is a “very thin” ceasefire.
“What Israel wants is clear … a land without people,” said Hayajneh.
“Thus, the Palestinians have three choices … Dieting hunger … To be killed … or to leave the earth. But the Palestinians have so far proved that they will not leave the earth, whatever happens. ”