The Israeli army has again bombarded the Gaza Strip, killing dozens in recent hours despite a call from the UN Security Council for an “immediate” ceasefire in the Palestinian territory devastated by war and on the verge of starvation.
In the sixth month of the conflict triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on October 7, sirens warning of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip sounded in southern Israel, the Israeli army said without reporting any victims.
Early Tuesday, the Hamas health ministry reported 70 deaths in nighttime Israeli airstrikes, including 13 in near and Rafah, the city on the southern tip of the besieged Palestinian territory where 1.5 million people are crowded. Palestinians, the majority of the displaced.
“We heard a huge explosion. The rubble fell on us. There were body parts in the trees. There were 22 or 23 martyrs, all displaced people from Gaza,” said Houssam Qazaat, a displaced person, amid the destruction in Rafah.
A new sign of a desperate humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where most of the 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine according to the UN, the Hamas Ministry of Health announced Tuesday the death of seven Palestinians drowned in trying to recover aid parachuted by plane to the population of the small territory at sea.
Israel has sworn to destroy Hamas and says it is determined to continue its major offensive in the Gaza Strip which has so far left 32,333 people dead, mostly civilians, according to a latest report from the Hamas health ministry.
And this despite international pressure and concerns, including from its American ally.
On Monday, and for the first time since the start of the war, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a ceasefire, with 14 votes in favor and one abstention, that of the United States which had until now blocked three resolution texts mentioning a “ceasefire”.
The text “demands an immediate ceasefire for Ramadan”, the Muslim month of fasting which began two weeks ago, and “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” kidnapped on the day of the attack on October 7.
Israel furious
Not implementing this resolution would be “unforgivable”, warned UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in the wake of the vote welcomed by major capitals.
Furious with the United States, Israel canceled an expected delegation’s visit to Washington, saying the American abstention was “harming” both its war effort and its efforts to free the hostages.
“We do not have the moral right to stop the war as long as there are hostages in Gaza,” declared Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting the United States, insisting on the need to “defeat » Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, welcomed the call for a ceasefire and also accused Israel of causing the “failure” of talks in Doha involving international mediators — Qatar, Egypt , United States for a truce accompanied by the release of the hostages.
Its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Iran on Tuesday, an ally of the Palestinian movement and sworn enemy of Israel.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official data.
According to Israel, around 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, of whom 33 are believed to have died.
Its army launched an intense bombing campaign followed on October 27 by a land offensive during which it advanced from the north to the south of the territory, at the gates of Rafah.
Mr. Netanyahu is determined to carry out a ground offensive in Rafah, despite the fears of the international community including the United States for the civilian population.
“For a can of tuna”
While less than a third of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip are operational, and only partially, according to the UN, three hospitals, where Hamas members according to Israel are hiding, are targeted by army operations .
In and around the al-Chifa hospital complex in Gaza, more than 170 Palestinian fighters have been killed since March 18, according to the army. In Khan Younes, soldiers surround the Nasser hospital according to Hamas and others operate around al-Amal hospital.
The humanitarian situation is particularly catastrophic in the north of the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel since October 9 and already subject to a total Israeli blockade since 2007.
In Jabaliya, residents, many of them women and children, queue daily to fill cans of water which they carry in wheelbarrows, carts or with the strength of their arms and wait to receive the food at the distribution points.
Israel strictly controls the land entry of aid which arrives in dribs and drabs from Egypt. This prompted foreign governments to airdrop food packages onto Gaza.
“People die for a can of tuna,” said Mohamad Al-Sabaawi, a resident of Gaza, brandishing the only can of tuna he was able to collect at the camera.
Not far away, another man says he is risking his life for a can of beans “which will be shared with 18 people”.