Hopes for a truce in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas appear to be revived, as the first aid boat finished unloading its cargo on Saturday in the besieged Palestinian territory threatened by famine.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes continued against the besieged Palestinian territory where 36 members of the same family were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp during a “bloody night” marked by 60 airstrikes, according to the ministry of Hamas Health.
“This is my mother, my father, my aunt, my brothers,” Mohammad al-Tabatibi, 19, told AFP, pointing to the bodies lined up in Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah. “I don’t know why they bombed the house,” said Mohammad, himself wounded in the left hand.
Dozens of people gathered at the hospital around the bodies, including those of at least two young children, wrapped in body bags or simple white sheets, according to AFP images.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it had targeted “several terrorists holed up” in the Nuseirat camp. Asked by AFP, she assured that the strike mentioned in this press release was “another incident” than that in which the al-Tabatibi family was killed and which she did not confirm was at the origin.
The Palestinian Islamist movement, which has so far demanded a definitive ceasefire from Israel before any agreement on the release of the hostages held in Gaza, said it was ready for a six-week truce, during which 42 hostages, women , children, the elderly and the sick, could be released in exchange for 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released.
With this in mind, Hamas demands the “withdrawal of the army from all towns and populated areas”, the “return of the displaced without restrictions” and the entry of at least 500 trucks of humanitarian aid per day into Gaza, one of its executives told AFP.
The American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, for his part, declared that the mediating countries – which had not managed to reach a truce agreement as they hoped before the start of Ramadan on Monday – were working “to hard work” for this purpose.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that an Israeli delegation would travel to Qatar as part of the negotiations, without specifying when. The White House said it was “cautiously optimistic.”
“No more normal-sized babies”
In addition to raids and fighting, the UN fears widespread famine in the Palestinian territory, particularly in the North, ravaged by war and difficult to access.
Departing from Cyprus on Tuesday, a boat from the Spanish NGO Open Arms carrying 200 tonnes of food from the organization World Kitchen Central (WCK) arrived on the coast of Gaza on Friday where it finished unloading its cargo on Saturday.
“All the cargo has been unloaded and is being prepared for distribution,” WCK said on Saturday, which said it was preparing a second aid ship to Cyprus, with “hundreds of tons of food.”
Aid transported by land enters the south of the Gaza Strip after having been inspected by Israel, but remains very insufficient compared to the needs of the 2.4 million inhabitants.
The Open Arms ship had previously been subjected to “a complete security check”, according to the Israeli army which is imposing a complete siege on the territory.
International efforts are increasing to try to deliver more aid directly to northern Gaza, by airdrops or via a new maritime corridor from Cyprus.
Germany, which joined for the first time on Saturday the countries participating in an aid airlift from Jordan, announced a first airdrop of four tonnes of foodstuffs over northern Gaza.
Two Jordanian planes, an American plane and another Egyptian also participated in the operation, according to the Jordanian army.
The UN, European Union, United States and other countries, however, insist that delivering aid by air or sea could not replace land routes.
The situation is so dramatic that “doctors no longer see babies of normal size” in Gaza, protested Friday Dominic Allen, head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the Palestinian territories.
Operation on Rafah?
The war was sparked on October 7 by an unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to one count. from AFP from official Israeli sources.
According to Israel, around 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, of whom 32 are believed to have died.
In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate the Hamas movement, which it considers terrorist, like the United States and the European Union. His army launched an offensive that left 31,553 people dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
While negotiations are active behind the scenes for a truce, Mr. Netanyahu approved the army’s “action plans” with a view to an offensive in Rafah, where, according to the UN, approximately 1, 5 million Palestinians. This operation could take place in the absence of a truce agreement or after a possible six-week pause in the fighting.
“The Israeli army is ready for the operational side and for the evacuation of the population”, according to its services which give no further details on this long-announced operation, against which the United States and the UN continue to oppose to warn.