Aerial bombardments and artillery fire targeted the Gaza Strip on Monday, where the Israeli army is continuing its offensive against Hamas after deadly strikes in recent days on a displacement camp and a school sheltering civilians.
The Islamist movement, denouncing “massacres” committed by Israel “against unarmed civilians” in the besieged Palestinian territory, announced on Sunday its withdrawal from indirect negotiations on a ceasefire led by the mediating countries.
On Monday, witnesses and rescuers reported artillery fire in several neighborhoods of Gaza City, in the north of the territory.
A strike on the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip left five people dead, including three children, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, while artillery fire, according to witnesses, targeted the surroundings of the Nousseirat camp in the same area.
On Sunday, 22 people were killed in Nusseirat, the Hamas Health Ministry said, in the bombing of a school run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which was sheltering “thousands of displaced people,” according to the Civil Defense. The army claimed to have “hit terrorists.”
This is the fifth school to be bombed in the Gaza Strip in eight days.
In the south, helicopter fire targeted the areas around Khan Younis and Rafah on Monday, according to witnesses.
The army announced that it had, the day before, “eliminated a terrorist cell armed with rocket launchers, during close combat” in the Rafah sector. “Many terrorists” were also “eliminated” in the center of the Gaza Strip, the army added.
Ground troops are supported by Israeli naval forces in the Mediterranean which “continue to target terrorist targets,” the army said.
On Saturday, according to Hamas, Israeli strikes killed 92 Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi camp, near Khan Younis, an area declared several months ago a “humanitarian zone” by Israel, where displaced civilians had been invited to regroup.
Israel said it had targeted Mohammed Deif, the military leader of Hamas, and Rafa Salama, the Islamist movement’s commander in Khan Younis, presented as “two masterminds of the October 7 massacre” in Israel, which triggered the war.
Mohammed Deif is safe, a Hamas official said Sunday, without completely removing doubts about his fate. The army announced that Rafa Salama was killed in the strike, but did not provide any information about Mohammed Deif.
“Terrible massacre”
After the strike on Al-Mawasi, a UNRWA official described witnessing “some of the most horrific scenes” since the start of the war at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
“I saw toddlers with double amputations, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment,” said Scott Anderson, UNRWA’s deputy humanitarian coordinator and director of affairs in Gaza.
Hamas denounced a “horrific massacre.”
The army said for its part that “the strike was carried out in a fenced area managed by Hamas” and that “most of the victims were terrorists.”
The war was triggered by the unprecedented attack carried out on October 7 by Hamas in southern Israel, which resulted in the death of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people abducted, 116 are still being held in Gaza, 42 of whom are dead, according to the army.
In response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and launched an offensive that has so far killed 38,664 people, mostly civilians, including at least 80 in 24 hours, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
Hard blow for negotiations
After months of fruitless negotiations, Hamas’ withdrawal is a blow to efforts by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt to move toward a truce that would include an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for hostages held in Gaza.
The Islamist movement, however, said it was ready “to resume negotiations” when Israel “shows seriousness.”
The diplomatic marathon had just been relaunched after a concession from Hamas, which had agreed to negotiate on the release of hostages in the absence of a permanent ceasefire with Israel.
But on Saturday, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to block a ceasefire with “heinous massacres.”
Mr Netanyahu has consistently said he wants to continue the war until the destruction of Hamas, classified as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union, and the release of all hostages.