Heavy fighting has killed nearly 300 Palestinians in the past 24 hours in Gaza as Palestinian armed group Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged threats.
Israeli raids continued on Sunday on the besieged territory, particularly in northern Gaza, where entire neighborhoods were razed by airstrikes and where ground troops operating for more than six weeks continue to face strong resistance from the part of Hamas fighters.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra told Tel Aviv Tribune in a telephone interview that 297 people were killed and more than 550 injured in the past 24 hours in Gaza, raising the death toll since the start of the war on October 7 at more than 18,000. – most of them women and children.
Hamas and Netanyahu exchange threats
Israeli attacks on Gaza continued for the 65th day on Sunday, with Hamas warning that no prisoners captured on October 7 would leave Gaza alive unless its demands were met.
“Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leaders… nor its supporters… can capture their prisoners alive without an exchange and negotiations and without meeting the demands of the resistance,” Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said in a television show.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, called on Hamas to surrender.
“This is the beginning of the end of Hamas. I say to the Hamas terrorists: it’s over. Do not die for (Yahya) Sinwar. Surrender now,” he said, referring to the Hamas leader in Gaza.
Hamas said earlier that Israel had launched a series of “very violent raids” targeting the southern town of Khan Younis and the road connecting it to Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
Gazans also reported heavy fighting in the Shujayea neighborhood of Gaza City and in the Jabalia refugee camp, a dense urban area.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Israeli forces attacked an area near the UNRWA clinic in the heart of Jabalia camp, where its emergency teams and doctors operate a medical post.
“The team is made up of nine doctors, nurses and volunteers. The surrounding area is currently being bombarded, posing a constant threat to the lives of medical teams and the injured,” the Red Crescent said in a message on X on Sunday evening.
🚨IOF invaded the area near the UNRWA clinic, in the middle of Jabalia camp, where PRCS EMS teams 🚑operate an advanced medical post. The team is made up of 9 doctors, nurses and volunteers. The surrounding area is currently being bombed, posing a constant threat… pic.twitter.com/JcFpL1IRRS
– PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 10, 2023
In Shujayea – where Israeli snipers and tanks positioned themselves among abandoned buildings – residents said the dead and wounded were left in the streets because ambulances could no longer reach the area.
“They attack everything that moves,” Hamza Abu Fatouh told the Associated Press.
“Journey of Death”
Israel had ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza at the start of the war, but tens of thousands of people remained, fearing that the south would not be safer or that they would never be allowed to return home.
Heavy fighting was also underway on Sunday in and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
“The mass exodus continues. Those fleeing northern Gaza to survive describe it as the ‘journey of death,'” said Tel Aviv Tribune’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza.
“Residents of Khan Younis were ordered to flee to al-Mawasi on the coast – an area considered very dangerous,” he added.
“It is also a region without any infrastructure, including access to water, food and electricity. There is also no access to toilets. The situation is deteriorating extremely quickly today.”
The health situation in Gaza is “catastrophic”, according to the WHO
The 34-member World Health Organization governing council adopted a resolution on Sunday calling for immediate and unhindered delivery of aid to Gaza.
“Gaza’s health system is on its knees and collapsing,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with only 14 of 36 hospitals operating at full capacity.
The emergency action, proposed by Afghanistan, Qatar, Yemen and Morocco, targets the passage of medical personnel and medical supplies to Gaza, requires WHO to document violence against health workers and patients, and obtain funding to rebuild hospitals.
“I must be frank with you: these tasks are almost impossible under current circumstances,” Tedros said, congratulating countries for finding common ground and saying it was the first time that a United Nations motion United Nations was adopted by consensus since the start of the conflict. .
Around 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been internally displaced. With very little aid allowed, Palestinians face severe shortages of food, water and other basic necessities.
Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian politician who heads the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees with 25 teams working in Gaza, said: “Half of Gaza is now starving.”
Barghouti said 350,000 people were suffering from infections, including 115,000 suffering from severe respiratory infections and lacking warm clothing, blankets and protection from the rain.
He said many suffered from stomach aches because there was little clean water and not enough fuel to boil it, risking outbreaks of dysentery, typhoid and cholera.
“To add insult to injury, we have 46,000 injured people who cannot be treated properly because most hospitals are not functioning,” he said.
Renewed US support for Israeli attacks
Israel has stepped up its bombing of Gaza after the latest US veto of a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire. The vote was called by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter – a measure unused for decades.
The article authorizes the Secretary-General to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which, in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
The United States also pushed to urgently sell about 14,000 tank shells worth more than $100 million to Israel without congressional review, the Pentagon announced Saturday.
Pushing back against criticism of the sale from Palestinians and rights groups who say it falls short of Washington’s stated efforts to pressure Israel to minimize civilian casualties, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC on Sunday that Washington was in almost constant contact with the Israelis. to make sure they understand what their obligations are.”
In a speech at the two-day Doha Forum that began Sunday in the Qatari capital, Antonio Guterres said he expected “public order will soon be completely destroyed” in Gaza.
“And an even worse situation could arise, including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement to Egypt,” he added.
Qatar, a key mediator of last month’s seven-day truce in which 80 Israeli prisoners were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners and a flow of humanitarian aid, said on Sunday it was still working on a new peace deal. truce.
Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum that mediation efforts would continue to end the war and allow the release of all captives, but “unfortunately, we do not see the same desire as in previous weeks.”
“Our efforts as the State of Qatar and with our partners continue,” he said, adding that Israel’s relentless bombing was “shrinking the window” for success.