2023-12-24 04:45:57
Israeli attacks left more than 200 dead in 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, authorities in the Hamas-controlled territory reported Saturday, while the United States pressured its ally to protect civilians.
The Hamas government, in power in Gaza since 2007, accused the Israeli army of having carried out “summary executions” of 137 civilians in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, following its unprecedented attack on October 7, in which some 1,140 people were killed, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli data. The militants also kidnapped about 250 people and 129 remain captive in Gaza, according to Israel.
The Israeli military response, by air and land, has left 20,258 dead, mainly women and children, and more than 53,000 injured, according to Hamas, including 201 people killed in the last 24 hours in various places in the narrow Palestinian territory.
On Saturday, the Israeli army announced the deaths of five soldiers since Friday, bringing to 144 the number of soldiers killed in Gaza since it launched its ground operations on October 27.
The Hamas Health Ministry reported an Israeli bombing of the Nuseirat refugee camp, saying the attack left at least 18 dead.
In Khan Younis, the large city in southern Gaza, bodies and wounded were taken to the Nasser hospital. Several men accompanied a woman, who was crying after seeing the bodies of her relatives. Another man, crouching and crying, placed his hand on a black body bag.
Hamas Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidreh accused Israeli forces on Saturday of having committed “several atrocious massacres that led to the death of dozens of martyrs in the Jabalia camp. (…) They also executed dozens of citizens in the streets”.
The Israeli army, questioned by AFP, did not specifically refer to these accusations, but indicated that it carries out operations “against military targets, in accordance with the provisions of international law.”
The armed force on Saturday released images of its soldiers advancing through ruins and opening fire in the south of Gaza City, and stated that “armed terrorists” were “eliminated” and that “several terrorist infrastructures” were “destroyed.”
US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to insist on “the critical need to protect the civilian population.”
Israeli officials indicated that, in response, Netanyahu “made it clear that Israel will continue the war until all its objectives are achieved.”
After five days of arduous negotiations to avoid the United States veto, the Security Council on Friday adopted a text that demands the “immediate” and “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
The document avoids calling for a “ceasefire”, an unacceptable condition for Israel and the United States, its great ally, but calls for “creating the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized the “massive obstacles” to distributing aid due to “the way Israel is conducting this offensive.”
At the diplomatic level, efforts by Egypt and Qatar to achieve a new truce continue, after the week-long ceasefire at the end of November, which allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinians detained in Israel.
But both sides remain firm in their demands.
Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, calls for a cessation of fighting before any negotiations on the hostages, and Israel excludes a ceasefire before the “elimination” of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement that the group believes five hostages “died in one of the Zionist attacks” after losing contact with the fighters holding them. Israeli authorities did not confirm these statements.
The conflict has destroyed much of Gaza, a small territory of 362 km2 and 2.4 million inhabitants.
Israeli bombings have forced 1.9 million people to leave their homes, 85% of the population, according to the UN.
The head of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, Thomas White, warned on Saturday that “nowhere is safe” in the enclave, and the WHO warned that “famine is imminent in Gaza.”
The war also reverberated elsewhere in the region, with frequent incidents on the Israeli border with Lebanon, and missile launches by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at cargo ships in the Red Sea.
The United States accused Iran of participating in the Houthi attacks, an allegation that the Islamic Republic rejected, stating that “the resistance (armed groups fighting against Israel, NDLR) has its own forces.”
A commercial ship was hit this Saturday by a drone in the Indian Ocean, according to two maritime agencies, one of them specifying that the ship was linked to Israeli interests.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but the United States said it was a “one-way drone launched from Iran,” which supports the Houthis in Yemen.
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