As the volleys and explosions subside and only the drone of drones breaks the silence of Gaza's rubble, ambulatory patients try to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital in the center of the attacked Gaza Strip. It's risky; they have to cross a war zone declared by the Israeli army. Yet they do it because they are desperate. Monther Abu Their managed to escape four days ago. “I didn't feel safe in the hospital, the explosions were getting closer and closer. I armed myself with courage and went out. I continued walking, afraid of being hit by a volley. God protected me and I managed to reach a group of people without harm,” Abu Their told a Palestinian journalist. There is no electricity at Al-Aqsa Hospital, the autonomous generators are switched off and assistance to the wounded and sick is minimal. “It's very risky for patients trying to walk,” explained Dr. Tareq Abu Azzoum told Al Jazeera TV. “The hospital is located in an area that is considered a combat zone.” Azzoum added that Israeli forces had positioned themselves a few hundred meters from the health facility in order to gain full control of the Salah al-Din highway, which is the crossed the entire Gaza Strip before being destroyed in several places by air strikes and passing bulldozers and tanks. Nasser's situation in Khan Yunis is similar to that in Al-Aqsa Hospital. Footage published by Portal shows patients lying on stretchers in hospital hallways and doctors using cellphones to illuminate patients. “We have no more beds. The medications in the emergency room are not enough. “We are trying to find alternatives,” warned Dr. Mohammed al Qidra.
Words that contradict the Israeli army's version of “respecting civilians and international humanitarian law in Gaza” have been seen repeated dozens of times in recent days by Israeli officials during the proceedings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague accused the Jewish state of genocide. Thirteen people, including a two-year-old girl, died in an airstrike on two houses in Rafah on Friday evening. Bassem Arafeh, a relative, showed a photo of a little girl and said the families were having dinner at the time of the raid. “This little girl was hungry, she died while eating a piece of bread that had nothing on it. Where is the International Court of Justice when our children die? Where are the Muslims… and the world leaders? asked Arafat, addressing local journalists. The Israeli army said its forces killed dozens of Hamas militants and other armed groups in Khan Younis and the central Gaza Strip yesterday. The Islamic movement, for its part, said it had fired on a military helicopter in the south of the Gaza Strip. There were also firefights, cannon fire and air strikes in the Al Bureij, Al Nusseirat and Al Maghazi refugee camps. Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli rocket exploded just meters from a bus. More than 20 victims in northern Gaza, in Beit Lahiya and the Daraj district of Gaza City. Gaza's Health Ministry reported that 135 Palestinians were killed and 312 injured between Friday and Saturday. There have been a total of 23,843 deaths since October 7th.
AP photo
The report submitted to the UN on Friday evening by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Martin Griffiths leaves no room for interpretation. «“The Israeli campaign in Gaza has been carried out with almost no regard for the impact on civilians,” the UN official denounced, adding that the Palestinians may not be able to return to the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been hit by bombings was largely destroyed. “The health system is collapsing. Women cannot give birth safely. Children cannot be vaccinated. Sick and injured people cannot receive treatment. Infectious diseases are increasing. And people are seeking refuge in the backyards of hospitals,” he reported. Then, citing U.N. staff who visited the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Griffiths described the situation as “horrific,” with bodies left on the streets and hungry people stopping trucks to ask for food and basic necessities. Finally, he emphasized that the UN reception centers were overcrowded and that water and food were in short supply.
In the West Bank, at least ten young Palestinians were injured and five were arrested in an attack by Israeli military units on the Al-Faraa camp that lasted several hours. Raids and arrests broke out in the Hebron area following the attack on a colonial outpost by three young Palestinians, all of whom were killed by the military.
The Israeli side emphasizes that we are still 100 days away from the capture of around 240 hostages by Hamas and other Palestinian groups. More than 130 of these hostages remain trapped in Gaza, and their families and Israeli authorities have organized solidarity demonstrations and sit-ins across the country to demand their release. Hamas would have accepted that the Red Cross would provide the Israeli hostages with the medicine they needed. In Tel Aviv yesterday evening, several thousand people gathered in Habima Square and demanded the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government.