AGI – This is what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “appalled” by the Israeli attack on the two ambulances leaving Shifa Hospital, in the city of Gaza. Israel confirmed it had targeted the vehicle but responded that the ambulance was being used “by a Hamas terrorist cell.”
The Islamist movement, in turn, denied and claimed that at least 15 people were killed in the attack on the convoy carrying the wounded from the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas A school north of the Strip was also hit which housed displaced civilians: at least 20 people killed. This was announced by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza the death toll reached 9,488.
And on Thursday the office of the France Press Agency was bombed: there was no damage or injuries, but the AFP is the only one of the three major international news agencies that has “live video” broadcasting images from Gaza City. Despite the damage, the recordings were not interrupted. An Israeli spokesman initially denied that troops had attacked the building; He then clarified that he had carried out an attack near the building.
US sources: “Hamas is using it to evacuate militia members”
The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) ambulance attacked by the Israeli Air Force was carrying weapons and Hamas militants. This is the version provided by Jewish state military sources after the Islamist movement also uses emergency vehicles to transport its men from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, according to US officials quoted by Haaretz.
An AFP journalist at the scene saw several bodies next to the damaged ambulance outside the hospital. The Israeli army said it struck an ambulance “used by a Hamas terrorist cell near its location in the combat zone,” killing several terrorists.
Another Health Ministry ambulance was “attacked” about a kilometer from the hospital, causing injuries and property damage, the PRCS said. Hamas denied there were militants in the vehicles and claimed they were instead transporting wounded people to the Rafah crossing.
Erdogan breaks with Netanyahu
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no longer his interlocutor amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, which has so far claimed over 9,000 Palestinian lives. Turkey then announced that it had recalled its ambassador to Israel, Sakir Özkan Torunlar, home for consultations.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded through spokesman Lior Haiat that this was “another step by the Turkish president to side with the terrorist organization Hamas.”
No escalation for now
Meanwhile, threats come from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah no escalation for nowIsrael’s offensive in Gaza continues as hopes for a temporary ceasefire have faded following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to initially release the hostages.
The mediation efforts of the American Secretary of State, who arrived in Tel Aviv for the third time since the outbreak of the war and will be in Amman today for meetings with the Arab countries and the Palestinians, were unsuccessful. “We are continuing the offensive with all our forces and Israel rejects a temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said after meeting Blinken.
What the USA demands
Soon after The Pentagon has confirmed that it is conducting unmanned drone flights over the Gaza Strip to help Israel locate and free the 241 hostages held by Hamas. Mediation with the Islamist movement would be “extremely lengthy and complex” and would require a pause in fighting, Biden administration sources confirmed. “We hope to deliver good news, but unfortunately we cannot guarantee it,” a White House source said.
The Biden administration has said this repeatedly did not advocate a ceasefire, but called for a humanitarian “pause.”, and Biden himself called on Thursday evening for the guns to be silenced in order to free the hostages. Blinken, who also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, assured that the United States would do “everything possible” to rescue those abducted. Blinken again called for “humanitarian pauses” to allow civilians to receive aid.
A position shared by the United Nations, the European Union, Canada and Arab countries: confirmation that allies are moving from unconditional support for Israeli self-defense to increasing concern about the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories. The UN refugee agency UNRWA has warned that it cannot guarantee the safety of hundreds of thousands of people who have sought refuge in UN facilities Right now, “there is no safe place” on the Strip.
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