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Palestinians injured in Israeli airstrikes arrived at the hospital this Saturday
Item information
- Author: Hugo Bachega and Adam Durbin
- Roll, from Jerusalem and London
- December 2, 2023
Updated 5 hours ago
Israel believes some Hamas leaders are in the city, where many civilians are seeking refuge after fleeing the northern Gaza Strip.
At least 193 people have been killed in the latest wave of Israeli attacks, according to the Hamasrun health ministry in the Gaza Strip.
These attacks were resumed on Friday (12 January) by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) following a temporary ceasefire.
The IDF said it struck more than 400 Hamas “terrorist targets” on Friday, the first day of renewed conflict.
The current conflict began on October 7, when around 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas attack.
According to the Hamasrun Ministry of Health, the death toll in Gaza is now over 15,200 people.
Since fighting resumed, rockets have also been fired regularly from Gaza into Israel, including one that targeted Tel Aviv and the outskirts of central Israel on Saturday evening (December 2).
After that attack, Israeli emergency services said they treated a 22yearold man with “minor shrapnel injuries” to the head in Holon a city south of Tel Aviv.
In a statement Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the military operation until “we achieve all objectives,” namely the elimination of Hamas and the release of the hostages.
He acknowledged that “a difficult war lies ahead.”
Khan Younis and the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt were some of the places hit by heavy airstrikes in recent hours, suggesting the next phase of the offensive should focus on the southern Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge in the area since the start of the war after being told to flee the territory’s north, which was Israel’s main target in the early stages of the conflict.
The Arabicspeaking IDF spokesman posted maps on social media showing which areas civilians should leave and ordered people in areas east of Khan Younis to evacuate further south to shelters in Rafah, an indication that a ground offensive was underway could be imminent.
Hospitals, left with limited resources after weeks of fighting, were overwhelmed with casualties. At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, some patients were treated on the floor.
“A night of horror,” Samira, a mother of four, told Portal. “It was one of the worst nights we have spent in the six weeks since we arrived in Khan Younis… We are so afraid that they will invade Khan Younis.”
Unicef spokesman James Elder, who was in Khan Younis on Saturday, told the BBC that hospitals were already “overflowing” with victims before attacks resumed.
“There is literally blood in the hallways, there are mothers again holding babies who appear to have been killed,” he said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent charity confirmed that 100 trucks carrying aid from Egypt were allowed to enter the Gaza Strip on Saturday. As of Friday, no humanitarian aid had been delivered to the area.
Negotiations to reach an agreement on another temporary ceasefire and the release of those kidnapped on October 7 who are still in Gaza failed this Saturday.
A Palestinian official told the BBC that negotiations had come to a complete standstill and there had been no contacts or attempts to reach a new ceasefire.
This Saturday, Israel announced that it would withdraw its negotiators from the Mossad secret service, which acted as mediator, from the talks in Qatar after a “dead end in the negotiations”.
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Rockets are fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip following the end of a temporary ceasefire
Saleh alArouri, deputy head of Hamas’s political office, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that “no negotiations are currently taking place” and that there will be no further prisoner exchange with Israel until the end of the war.
US Vice President Kamala Harris said in a meeting with the Egyptian president: “Under no circumstances.” [os] “The United States would allow the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the siege of Gaza, or the redrawing of Gaza’s borders.”
She also reiterated the US position that Israel has the right to defend itself.
During her meeting in Dubai at the UN climate change conference COP28, she told Abdul Fattah alSisi that peace efforts could only be successful if they were “revived in the context of a clear political horizon for the Palestinian people towards a state led by a reinvigorated government.” “The Palestinian Authority will be persecuted.” “
In his statement on Saturday, Netanyahu praised the release of 110 Israeli hostages women and children and some foreigners.
“Welcome back from hell,” Netanyahu said.
The hostages were released in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners women and teenagers.
Most of the approximately 140 hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip are men and military personnel.