People’s desperation is growing – in Israel and on the Palestinian side. In Tel Aviv, relatives remembered aloud the Hamas hostages. The situation of the population of the Gaza Strip is dramatic.
Relatives of hostages kidnapped in the Gaza Strip demonstrated in front of the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv. There were only a few hundred people, but their despair is great. No one here knows how the hostages are doing or what efforts are being made to free them.
And then there are these reports coming from the Gaza Strip: nine hostages have been killed there in Israeli bombings in the last 24 hours. This cannot be verified; the report comes from the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
Desperate father in Kfar Azza
Avichai Brotz is a farmer from Kfar Azza in the Gaza Strip. Hamas terrorists kidnapped his three children and his wife:
I fulfilled all my duties. I served in the Army and did reserve service. Whenever I was called to work, I was there. I fulfilled all duties. I live right in front of the border and I’m a farmer. I did everything and I hope they do what is expected of them now.
Main objective: defeat Hamas
By “they” he refers to the leadership of the Israeli army. But it is unlikely that the release of the approximately 150 hostages in the war against Hamas will be the main priority – this is also how we should understand the army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, who describes the objectives that were defined politically as follows: “Defeat Hamas and the organization’s leaders after the massacre they committed on Saturday. This organization will not govern in the Gaza Strip, neither militarily nor politically, in the future.”
This is apparently expected to happen in the coming hours and days, especially in the north of the Gaza Strip. Bombing will likely increase again and the deployment of ground troops will likely begin there.
How to evacuate crowded hospitals?
Civilians who did not follow the call to evacuate continue to live there, for example in United Nations schools. Other locations cannot be evacuated, such as Al-Awda Hospital in the far north of Gaza City.
The clinic’s director, Ahmed Mohanna, told broadcaster Al Arabyha: “Like other hospitals in the north, we were also told to vacate the house. But we and the others are full of patients. And we said that we continue to receive patients and that We are here “To provide a service to people. It is a completely unrealistic requirement to evacuate a hospital full of patients.”
Aid supplies are stuck at the border
The situation is also difficult in the south of the Gaza Strip. The hundreds of thousands of people who fled cannot be accommodated there. There is a lack of electricity, water and medical supplies.
There are trucks with humanitarian goods behind the border with Egypt, but they are not allowed to cross the border. Apparently preparations are being made for foreign citizens to leave the country.
Many Palestinians have fled to the south of the Gaza Strip – there are serious shortages there.
No water, no electricity, no bread
Kayet Bakra, who is queuing for water in Khan Youis, describes her situation as follows: “Water and electricity have been cut off. Now children are bringing bottled water from the hospital. No water, no electricity, no bread – that’s how it is. at Al Shifa Hospital. We can’t take it anymore. Israel caused this crisis, because of the war, Israel doesn’t want to give us water or electricity.”
Meanwhile, Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israel. There were more injuries near the Gaza Strip and the alarm was also raised for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.