The Israeli army and militants from the Islamist movement Hamas fight this Wednesday in the center of Gaza Cityin the north of this besieged territory, with no hope of a truce for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians trapped in the conflict and plunged into a desperate humanitarian situation.
Israel has vowed to “destroy Hamas” in retaliation for the bloody attack on its territory on October 7, in which Islamist fighters killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Among the dead there are more than 300 soldiers.
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Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the EU and Israel, also has more than 240 hostages in its possessionkidnapped that day and taken to Gaza.
Since that day, The Israeli army has bombed the Strip daily, despite multiple calls for a truce from abroad, and its soldiers are currently “in the heart” of Gaza City, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared on Tuesday night. There is, according to him, the “center” of Hamas.
“Gaza is the largest terrorist base ever built,” Gallant said.
On the Palestinian side, at least 10,569 people, mostly civilians and including more than 4,000 children, were killed in Israeli bombings, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
In images released on Wednesday by the Israeli army, tanks and bulldozers can be seen advancing through the smoking ruins of Gaza. The soldiers are operating in the buildings destroyed by the bombings, while explosions occur on the ground.
In Gaza City, the most densely populated part of this territory, where entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble, many have remained and are waiting to supply themselves with wateraccording to images recorded by AFP.
(Keep reading: G7 Foreign Ministers begin meeting in Japan focused on conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine).
“There will be no humanitarian truce without the return of the hostages,” reiterated the Israeli Defense Ministerdespite requests from the UN, NGOs and foreign capitals for a ceasefire or a pause in the fighting, which would allow urgent aid to be delivered after the supply of food, water, electricity and medicine was cut off.
‘Cemeteries full’
According to the UN, one and a half million people have been displaced within the Palestinian enclave for a month.
An independent expert from the United Nations, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, He said this Wednesday that 45% of the homes in the enclave have been damaged or destroyed in Israeli bombings.which according to him is “a war crime.”
The expert emphasized that when such attacks “are directed against a civilian population, they also amount to crimes against humanity.”
The Hamas communications service in Gaza stated Tuesday night on Telegram that several cemeteries “are full and there is no more space for burials.”
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And according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which cites numbers from the Hamas Ministry of Health, 192 health professionals have died since the start of the conflict on October 7.
The idea of a ceasefire was also rejected by the United States, Israel’s main ally, which instead advocates “humanitarian pauses.”
Along these lines, the G7 foreign ministers, meeting this Wednesday in Tokyo, supported the idea of ”pauses and humanitarian corridors” in Gaza.
They also affirmed Israel’s “right to defend itself and its people, complying with international law.”and highlighted “the importance of defending civilians.”
‘Stop this machine of destruction’
For Gaza’s 2.4 million people, the situation is desperate after a month of relentless bombing.
“Stop this machine of destruction. Save us,” implored on Tuesday Hisham Kulab, a displaced Palestinian who witnessed bombings in Rafah, in the south of the Strip, besieged by Israel since October 9.
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In this part of the Palestinian enclave, “it takes an average of four to six hours to wait to receive half a normal portion of bread,” OCHA said.
And in the north, “many people desperately looking for food entered the last three bakeries where there were warehouses of wheat flour” on Tuesday, added OCHA, which reported the entry of 650 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza since October 21, from neighboring Egypt.
AFP
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