AIn view of the numerous civilian casualties and the tense supply situation during the Israeli attacks on the Islamist Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA has once again called for a ceasefire. “A humanitarian ceasefire is long overdue,” UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on Wednesday after his first visit to the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. “Without it, more people will be killed, the living will suffer more loss, and a once-vibrant society will sink into mourning forever.”
He attended a school run by UNRWA in Rafah, near the border with Egypt. “The scale of the tragedy is unprecedented,” Lazzarini said. Children would have asked him for a drink of water and a piece of bread. The hardship and unsanitary living conditions are beyond imagination.
“It was one of the saddest days in my humanitarian work,” Lazzarini said. The current humanitarian aid for the people in the Gaza Strip is far from enough. “I am once again calling for urgent fuel deliveries. Fuel has not arrived for almost a month and this is having a devastating impact on hospitals, bakeries and waterworks,” said Lazzarini.
According to the Israeli military, at least 240 hostages were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip during the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas on October 7th. More than 1,400 people died during and in the following days. In response, Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip and began massive air and ground strikes. The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has since risen to 8,796, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
Israel denies Hezbollah shoots down Israeli drone
There are conflicting reports of an Israeli drone being shot down during cross-border fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The radical Islamic militia says it destroyed an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon with a surface-to-air missile. The Israeli military confirms the rocket launch, but says the drone was “not damaged.” In response to the attempted drone down, the military “attacked the terrorist cell that fired the rocket and the launch base,” the military says, with no one responsible for it to call rocket launch. Neither side initially provides any evidence for their claims.
Israel’s military kills Hamas commander in Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, the Israeli armed forces continued their military operation in the Gaza Strip. According to their own statements, they killed the head of Hamas’ anti-tank missile unit. The high-ranking commander was killed in an attack by a fighter jet, the Israeli military said on Wednesday. The Israeli army released a video showing the explosion of a building from the air.
Mohammed Asar was responsible for all Hamas anti-tank missile units throughout the Gaza Strip. The missions he commissioned targeted Israeli civilians and soldiers.
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