Israel stepped up its strikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, devastated by more than nine months of war with the Islamist movement Hamas, as Washington renewed criticism of its ally due to the high number of civilian casualties.
The war, which began on October 7 after a Hamas attack on Israeli soil, has seen no respite and hopes of a truce are fading despite the efforts of the mediating countries – Qatar, Egypt and the United States – to achieve a ceasefire.
Denouncing “massacres” committed by Israel “against unarmed civilians” in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas leader announced on Sunday that the movement was suspending its participation in indirect negotiations, but was “ready” to return to these discussions when the Israeli government demonstrated a “serious will” to succeed.
The Israeli army continued its operations in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, following statements the day before by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that the number of victims among Palestinian civilians “remained unacceptable.”
At dawn on Tuesday, four bodies were pulled from the rubble of a house in Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Five bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital in the city after an “attack” in Rafah, according to a medical source at the hospital.
In the centre, in Nousseirat, the Red Crescent and the Civil Defence reported several deaths after an Israeli air raid. “I was 50 metres away” and “I saw a missile destroy a large building”, said Abou Ramzi Hamad, a witness who said he saw “the remains” of “an entire family”.
Concerned about the intensification of Israeli operations, 13 NGOs have warned of the “deterioration” of access to aid in the Palestinian territory where the situation is catastrophic.
“Catastrophic human toll”
The war was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally 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 launched an offensive that has left 38,713 dead, including 49 in the last 24 hours, mostly civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has always said he wants to continue the war until the destruction of Hamas, which has been in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, and the release of all hostages.
On Sunday evening, the Civil Defense announced 15 deaths in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in a neighborhood of Gaza City, the sixth school bombed in nine days in the territory.
Earlier, Hamas claimed that 22 people had been killed in Nusseirat in the bombing of a school run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli army said it had targeted “terrorists.”
The day before, strikes attributed to the Israeli army left 92 dead near Khan Younis, in a place designated a “humanitarian zone” by Israel, which said it had targeted two senior Hamas leaders in the area.
French diplomacy on Tuesday denounced “the strikes of recent days” which “add to the catastrophic human toll among the civilian population.”
Several NGOs including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde have denounced the “massacres” in “security zones” and the bombing in Nousseirat.
Torture
These strikes “worsen the humanitarian catastrophe”, with NGOs continuing “to come up against the obstacles imposed by the continuation of Israeli military operations”, MSF deplored on Monday evening.
The capture of the Rafah crossing by the Israelis in early May caused a “complete halt” in the delivery of aid, according to NGOs, which claim that 50% of households are classified as “urgent” due to risk of famine in the north of the territory.
Israel accuses UN of being responsible for blocking aid deliveries.
In addition, Palestinian Minister for Prisoners Affairs Qadoura Fares on Monday accused Israel of waging a “war of revenge” against Palestinian detainees arrested in connection with the conflict.
A lawyer from the Department of Detainees Affairs has denounced acts of torture, including “rape” and “psychological” violence, according to testimonies from detainees he visited in an Israeli prison in the occupied West Bank.
The army told AFP it “categorically rejects” these allegations.