The Israeli army is advancing into the Gaza Strip, where Hamas said a new attack on a refugee camp killed dozens of people on Saturday evening, despite calls for a ceasefire and the despair of Palestinian civilians after 30 days of war.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi stressed that the Arab world was speaking with “one voice” to end the war in Gaza after meeting his American counterpart Antony Blinken in Amman on Saturday, at which diplomatic chiefs met Egypt and Saudi Arabia took part, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar were present.
However, Mr. Blinken, who was expected in Ankara on Sunday, reiterated the United States’ strong opposition to a ceasefire that “will only keep Hamas in place.”
The American diplomatic chief reiterated that his country supports “humanitarian pauses” to deliver aid to Gaza’s 2.4 million residents, who have been under bombardment since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the conflict . Israel also imposed a “full siege” on them, cutting off water, electricity and food supplies.
The Hamas Ministry of Health reported on Saturday night that a bomb attack on a refugee camp – which has not currently been confirmed by the Israeli army – killed at least 30 people, adding that the majority of victims were children and women be.
A journalist from Turkey’s Anadolu news agency told AFP that his house partially collapsed when an airstrike hit his neighbors’ house in Maghazi camp, killing many people, including two of his children.
“Reattach my legs.”
According to the latest report from the Hamas government on Saturday, 9,488 people, mostly civilians, including 3,900 children, have been killed by Israeli attacks across the 362 km2 Palestinian territory since the conflict began nearly a month ago. It has been in power there since 2007.
On Saturday, one of the Israeli bombings hit a UN school where displaced people were seeking refuge in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, killing 15 people, according to Hamas.
“The bombs fell on us, people were cut to pieces, they are all dead or injured, we want a ceasefire, please, we are exhausted,” Sajda Maarouf pleaded as she sought refuge in a school.
At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younès, in the south of the territory: “Tie my legs back together,” screams 13-year-old Layan al-Baz every time the pain wakes her up in her hospital bed, gripped by post-amputation fear. According to her mother, Lamia al-Baz, 47, the child was injured in a bomb attack in the al-Qarara neighborhood last week, in which she also lost two daughters and two grandchildren.
Supported by bombings and artillery fire, Israeli soldiers have intensified their ground operations in the north of the Gaza Strip and are trying to destroy Hamas’ “center” in Gaza City, according to the army. They suffered several attacks and killed “dozens of terrorists.” In the south, they conducted a “targeted raid,” killing enemy fighters who “emerged from a tunnel.”
Hamas claimed to have attacked an Israeli military convoy with grenades, inflicting “casualties on the enemy.”
According to the army, at least 29 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground operation in Gaza began on October 27, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reported “difficult fighting” and vowed to “find and “eliminate” Yahya Sinouar, the leader. Hamas, which is classified as a “terrorist” group by Israel, the United States and the European Union (EU).
Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi inspected his troops in Gaza on Saturday for the first time since the start of the war.
“I don’t sleep anymore”
In Israel, where rocket warning sirens sound regularly, authorities say at least 1,400 people have died since October 7, most of them civilians killed on the day of the Hamas attack. According to the army, Hamas is also holding 241 hostages.
“I sleep and eat the bare minimum to survive,” Yoni Asher, 37, whose wife and two daughters disappeared during the Hamas attack a month ago, told AFP.
While the fear of a conflagration is palpable among Israelis, “I can’t sleep anymore,” admits Sarit Zehavi, mother of three and reserve lieutenant colonel, who fears that the Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and backed by Iran , invades “the towns, the kibbutzim in the north of Israel, to kill, to massacre,” as Hamas did.
There are daily exchanges of fire on the Israeli-Lebanese border. According to an AFP count, 72 people have died on the Lebanese side since October 7, including 54 Hezbollah fighters. On the Israeli side, six soldiers and one civilian were killed.
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In four weeks, Israeli bombing raids have caused immense destruction in the Gaza Strip – which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007 – and led to the displacement of 1.5 million people living in very precarious conditions, according to the United Nations.
According to an American official, 350,000 to 400,000 people remain in the north, where most of the fighting is concentrated. But the south of the territory is not spared from Israeli bombings.
According to a UN count on Saturday, only 450 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have passed through the Rafah (south) terminal on the border with Egypt since October 21.
Several hundred injured people, foreigners and dual nationals have also been able to leave the Gaza Strip for Egypt via Rafah since November 1, but the Hamas government decided on Saturday to suspend these evacuations because Israel refused to let people leave. wounded Palestinians.
“No foreign passport holder will be able to leave until the wounded who need to be evacuated from hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip can be transported to the Rafah crossing,” a security administration official told AFP. Border crossings.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed by fire from Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority. Attacks condemned by the UN and EU.
Facing Israel’s refusal to accept a ceasefire, Turkey announced on Saturday that it would recall its ambassador to Israel for consultations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said he would cut off all contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he said was “no longer someone we can talk to.”