2024-03-30 18:30:34
There have once more been deaths and injuries during a distribution of aid supplies in the Gaza Strip. At least five people were killed and 30 others injured in gunfire and a stampede during the issue, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday. According to the media, the indirect negotiations between Israel and the Islamist Hamas regarding a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of further hostages might continue on Sunday in Cairo.
The state-affiliated Egyptian broadcaster Al-Kahira News cited an Egyptian security representative in this regard on Saturday. For weeks, the USA, Qatar and Egypt have been mediating between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in order to achieve a ceasefire and an exchange of hostages kidnapped from Israel for Palestinian prisoners. Israel and Hamas do not negotiate directly.
As the Red Crescent announced, thousands of people had gathered at a roundregarding in Gaza early in the morning before the arrival of around 15 trucks loaded with flour, among other things. Three of those killed were shot. Eyewitnesses told the AFP news agency that Gaza residents overseeing the distribution fired into the air. But Israeli soldiers also opened fire. According to reports, people were hit by trucks while trying to get food.
AFP videos showed a convoy of trucks moving quickly past burning rubble near the distribution point in the darkness as people screamed and gunshots were heard. When contacted, the Israeli military said it had no information regarding the incident. The roundregarding in Gaza has been the scene of several chaotic and deadly aid distribution incidents in recent weeks.
More than two weeks following the arrival of a first ship with aid supplies in the Gaza Strip from the Cypriot port of Larnaca, a second ship shipment set off for the Palestinian territory from there on Saturday. According to the official Cypriot news agency CNA, the cargo ship “Jennifer” and two tugboats will be on the road for around 65 hours.
The US aid organization World Central Kitchen and the Spanish aid organization Open Arms want to transport almost 400 tons of relief supplies to the war zone this way. According to World Central Kitchen, the ship contains rice, pasta, flour, legumes and canned goods. A makeshift dock was set up off the coast of the Gaza Strip to unload the cargo. In mid-March, an aid organization freighter with 200 tons of relief supplies on board was unloaded there under the supervision of the Israeli army.
After almost six months of war, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is devastating. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health care is no longer guaranteed. “Approximately 9,000 patients urgently need to be taken abroad to receive life-saving care,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the online service X.
With only “ten minimally functioning hospitals in the entire Gaza Strip,” thousands of patients are currently left without care. Before the war, there were 36 hospitals in the area, according to the WHO. Israel accuses the radical Islamic Hamas of maintaining military bases under hospitals and using civilians as human shields – and is therefore carrying out military operations at hospitals.
The Gaza Strip’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, has been under Israeli fire since mid-March. On Saturday, the Israeli military said it killed several enemy fighters there. It confiscated weapons and liquidated fighting positions belonging to Hamas and other terrorist groups. The army also said it had hit dozens of targets in the center of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, for its part, said some of the attacks were aimed at “residences.” According to Hamas, Israeli troops are also present at Nasser Hospital and Al-Amal Hospital, both in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, a 13-year-old Palestinian was killed during an Israeli military operation in the town of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank. Another teenager was seriously injured in the battle on Saturday morning, doctors at the hospital in the nearby city of Jenin said. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli soldiers stormed the site, positioned snipers on roofs, searched several houses and arrested a father and his son.
Armed Palestinians resisted the Israeli soldiers and there was an exchange of fire, according to reports that might not be independently verified for the time being. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident. Jenin and its surroundings are considered strongholds of Palestinian militants. The Israeli military regularly carries out raids.
Since the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7th, the situation in the West Bank has become significantly worse. According to the Ministry of Health, 434 Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks in the West Bank. There was also increased violence by Israeli settlers once morest Palestinians.
The war, which has now lasted almost six months, was triggered by the major attack on Israel on October 7th by Hamas, which the EU and the USA classify as a terrorist organization. According to Israeli reports, at least 1,160 people were killed in the attack and 250 were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Israel then announced that it would destroy Hamas and has since taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 32,700 people have now been killed.
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