The Israeli army continues today its aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Eyewitnesses spoke of gunfire and shelling in various areas of the Palestinian enclave, especially in the city of Gaza (north), where Al Ahli Hospital reported seven dead, members of the same family, Lou.
The Israeli army deployed tanks yesterday to Rafatook control of the border crossing and closed the two main entry points for humanitarian aid (the one in Rafah and Kerem Shalom), as the USAhis main ally Israelcalled it “unacceptable”.
On Wednesday morning, Israel announced it had reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing on its border with the Gaza Strip, adding that trucks carrying humanitarian aid through Egypt were already being checked there.
This crossing is the main channel for the transfer of humanitarian aid from Israel to Gaza.
Washington said it had “suspended” last week’s delivery of a shipment of bombs to Israel because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government did not provide a satisfactory response to Washington’s “concerns” about the announced ground operation in Rafah, in the southern part of the Strip. Gaza.
That shipment consisted of “1,800 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (226-kilogram) bombs,” said an official in President Joe Biden’s administration, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He explained that the fear was that the bombs could be “used in Rafah” and “densely populated urban environments”.
The move was announced as the Biden administration faces a wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests in the US and against its unqualified support for Israel.
And as the countries mediating — Egypt, Qatar and the United States — indirect talks to broker a truce after seven months of war consult in Cairo.
“All parties have agreed to return to the table of indirect negotiations for the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, an Egyptian media outlet believed to have ties to the Egyptian intelligence agency, Al-Qahera, reported yesterday.
Israel and Hamas must be able to “fill in the remaining gaps” for a negotiated ceasefire to close, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, adding that he hoped to see the talks to come to fruition “very soon”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he instructed the Israeli delegation that left for Cairo to “insist on the necessary conditions for the release of the hostages” as well as the demands that are “necessary” for “Israel’s security”.
“This may be (Israel’s) last chance to return the captives (…) alive,” a senior Hamas official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Military Pressure”
According to statements by the second-in-command of Hamas’s political arm in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, the proposal includes three 42-hour phases: first a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, then the return of displaced persons, then an exchange of Israeli hostages in Gaza with Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, with the ultimate goal of a “permanent cease-fire.”
Israel rejects a permanent ceasefire before Hamas, in power since 2007, is “defeated”.
His army is conducting an “anti-terrorist” operation in “specific zones” in eastern Rafah, where he has ordered tens of thousands of families to leave.
The city is home to a total of 1.4 million Palestinians, according to United Nations estimates.
The Israeli military said it had taken operational control of the Palestinian side of Gaza’s southern Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt and has been pivotal for the delivery of aid and exit of injured people in the Gaza war pic.twitter.com/tfyLEMCwQb
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 7, 2024
The hasty evacuation of civilians ordered yesterday appears to be a prelude to the large-scale ground offensive Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced to destroy Hamas ranks in what he says is its “last” stronghold; also aimed at “exerting military pressure” to the Palestinian Islamist movement to secure an agreement that meets “Israeli demands.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad said yesterday that the armed forces are ready to “intensify” operations in “the entire” Gaza Strip if there is no progress in freeing the hostages.
“Stop any escalation”
The US, UN and EU are calling on Israel to follow through on this threat as they fear a bloodbath and further worsening of the humanitarian crisis.
“The armed conflict in Gaza is at a critical crossroads. The decisions taken today and their consequences in terms of human suffering will be remembered by the next generation,” Martin Griffiths, head of humanitarian operations of the United Nations, said via X.
In Egypt, “hundreds of trucks loaded with fuel and humanitarian aid were blocked,” according to Egyptian sources, after the Israeli armed forces closed the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings after it came under renewed fire.
The UN also pointed out that it no longer has fuel reserves for humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip for more than a day, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling on Israel to “immediately” reopen the two crossings (Rafa, Kerem Shalom) and to “stop any escalation”.
The Israeli military said 18 rockets had been fired from Rafah into southern Israel, including some toward the Kerem Shalom border post, which it said was “blocking” humanitarian aid from entering the enclave.
According to Washington, the Kerem Shalom crossing is expected to reopen today, while construction work on an artificial port to be placed on the shores of the Gaza Strip is now complete and when installed will facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave by sea. an issue of increasing importance since the armed conflict began.
“terrified”
The war broke out on October 7, when members of Hamas’ military wing launched an unprecedented raid on southern parts of the Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally by AFP based on official Israeli data.
Another 250-plus people were kidnapped and 128 of them are believed to be still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, but 36 are believed to be dead, according to Israeli sources.
(AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
According to newsbeast, in Israel’s large-scale retaliatory military operation in the Palestinian enclave, with the declared goal of “annihilating” Hamas, at least 34,789 people, most of them civilians, have lost their lives to date, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health Islamist movement.
After being ordered by the Israeli army to evacuate east Rafah, thousands of men, women and children, many already displaced more than once by the war, hastily packed their meager possessions and began to leave, not knowing where they were supposed to go. to go
“We are terrified. We’re leaving, we’re going to western Rafah, we don’t know exactly where,” said 40-year-old Hana Saleh.
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