Hamas’s decision to leave the negotiating table was announced a day following a deadly bombing aimed at killing the head of the Palestinian Islamist movement’s military wing, Mohammed Dayf, killed a close aide, according to the Israeli military.
A Hamas official assured that Mohammed Daif is alive, is “well” and is “directly supervising the operations” of his fighters.
Another Hamas official told AFP that the movement’s decision to withdraw from indirect negotiations with Israel, which are being mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, was due to the other side’s “lack of seriousness”, denouncing in particular the “massacres ” committed “with unarmed civilians as victims”.
Hamas, however, is “ready to resume negotiations” when Israel “shows seriousness” in order to “conclude a cease-fire agreement”, which would be accompanied by an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for hostages held in the Gaza Strip following its military arm launched its unprecedented incursion into southern sectors of Israeli territory on 7 October.
Yesterday Sunday, the Israeli armed forces once once more bombed a school of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, where displaced people have taken refuge, in the Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip, asserting that they were targeting “terrorists”.
According to them, the building was a “hideout” and a base from which “attacks” were launched once morest Israeli troops.
The shelling of the Abu Araban school building, where “thousands of displaced persons” have taken refuge, resulted in the deaths of at least “fifteen people”, the majority of them women and children, said Palestinian civil protection spokesman Mahmoud Bassal.
Eyewitnesses also reported many casualties, while an AFP correspondent saw the building destroyed and survivors gathered in its courtyard, which was littered with debris.
Last Saturday, Hamas reported that Israeli shelling killed 92 Palestinians in an IDP camp in al-Maghazi, near Khan Younis, in the southern part of the enclave.
The Israeli military said it targeted Mohammed Deif and Rafa Salama, respectively the head of Hamas’s military wing and its head in Khan Younis, described by the Israeli military as the “masterminds of the October 7 massacre.”
Rafa Salama was killed in the bombing, it confirmed yesterday, introducing him as “a close associate of Mohamed Deif”.
Mohammed Deif is the man who announced, via Hamas audio message, on the morning of October 7, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood; prior to yesterday’s bombing, he had survived at least six known Israeli attempts to eliminate him.
Israel has been criticized internationally for repeated attacks on schools in the Gaza Strip. France and Germany have called for an investigation.
The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva yesterday called on the international community not to remain silent in the face of this “endless slaughter”.
The war between Israel and Hamas was sparked by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s unprecedented raid on southern Israeli territory on October 7, which killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 251, according to count based on official Israeli data. Of the latter, 116 are believed to be still being held in the enclave but 42 are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military.
Wide-scale military operations carried out in retaliation by Israel’s armed forces since then with the declared aim of wiping out the Palestinian Islamist movement have killed at least 38,584 people, also mostly civilians, according to the ruling Hamas health ministry. in the Gaza Strip since 2007.
At least 141 people were killed in 24 hours, the ministry said yesterday. This is one of the heaviest daily tallies in months.
An UNRWA official said he saw at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital “some of the most horrific scenes” since the outbreak of war.
Scott Anderson, assistant coordinator for humanitarian affairs in Gaza, spoke of “mutilated infants” and “paralyzed children” who were unable to be cared for.
AFP footage from al-Maghazi camp shows remnants of flattened and burned tents, blankets and shredded mattresses strewn on the ground.
Hamas denounced the “horrific massacre” in the camp, which for months has been declared a “safe zone” by Israel and to which displaced persons are asked to go.
For its part, the Israeli armed forces reported that a “fenced” area “administered by Hamas” was bombed and where “according to our information, only Hamas terrorists and no civilians were present”, assuring that “most of the victims were terrorists ».
The operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, sends a “deterrent message” to Israel’s enemies and has helped weaken Hamas.
At the same time, operations continue in the Rafah sector (south) and in Gaza City (north) where, according to the Israeli forces, “many terrorists were killed in close combat”. Shelling killed at least two people in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, according to the civil defense.
After months of fruitless negotiations, Hamas’ withdrawal deals a blow to negotiators’ efforts to hammer out a ceasefire deal in the besieged enclave.
The diplomatic marathon resumed following the concession made by the Palestinian Islamist movement, agreeing to negotiate the release of hostages without Israel accepting the declaration of a permanent ceasefire.
However, yesterday Saturday the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniya, accused Mr. Netanyahu of trying to prevent any agreement from being reached with “these heinous massacres.”
Mr. Netanyahu, for his part, does not stop repeating that the war will continue until Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the EU, is destroyed and all the hostages are released.
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