Israeli troops indicated on February 5 that in the last 24 hours they have killed dozens of Hamas members during operations throughout the Gaza Strip. However, the local Health Ministry indicated that 128 people, most of them women and children, died in Rafah, in the south of the enclave, in Israeli attacks early this Monday. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to arrive in Saudi Arabia in the next few hours to promote negotiations on a possible new agreement between the Army of the Jewish-majority country and the group that controls Gazan territory. .
Israel reports lethal attacks against Hamas members, but local authorities say the majority of fatalities are civilians.
Dozens of Palestinian gunmen killed in operations across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hoursas stated by the military institution this Monday, February 5, in a statement.
The information is released, while artillery bombardments are heard in the eastern areas of Rafah and Khan Younis, the two main cities in southern Gaza, where the Israeli Army is now pressing with special force as part of its campaign to eradicate to Hamas.
Simultaneously, the military is carrying out “selective” assaults on the north of the enclave and other areas such as the central part of Gaza, the troops of the country led by Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed:
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) continues to carry out operations against Hamas terrorist targets and eliminate terrorists (…) In Khan Younis, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet attacked a Hamas terrorist cell operating within a terrorist infrastructure,” the Army stated through its social networks.
The military institution added that in western Khan Younis, its soldiers “continue to eliminate terrorist agents in battles and carry out operations that include the location of weapons, such as AK-47 rifles, sniper rifles, grenades and ammunition.”
However, the Gaza Ministry of Health, cited by the AFP news agency, assured that In Rafah alone 128 people, most of them women and childrendied this Monday during the Israeli attacks.
Likewise, the Hamas-controlled Gaza media office indicated that Israeli shelling continued in the center and southern tip of the coastal territory, including near hospitals.
The Palestinian Red Crescent assured that Israeli forces detained the general director and administrative director of Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
In addition, the humanitarian agency noted that hundreds of displaced Palestinians are leaving that hospital complex after taking refuge there during “a two-week siege.”
“The situation is indescribable (…) Whether you have a million dollars or a hundred, you are in the same situation,” said Said Hamouda, a Palestinian who fled his home to the southern city of Rafah, the last corner of the enclave. on the border with Egypt, where the majority of Gazans went to take shelter from the intense bombing, but which is now also under constant fire.
Israeli bank blocks UNRWA bank account
Amid the desperation and urgent humanitarian aid that Palestinians require to survive, the UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA), the main provider of assistance in Gaza, becomes even more financially cornered.
The Israeli bank Luemi informed UNRWA that it is blocking its bank account due to “tangible suspicions that it is transferring funds to terrorist groups in Gaza,” according to a report in the local newspaper 'Haaretz'.
The Israeli newspaper added that the bank had received information about unusual activity in the UN agency's account, for which it had sent multiple alerts. However, the information has not been independently verified.
The move comes after Israeli authorities charged 12 of the agency's employees with allegedly participating in the Hamas attack on October 7. Following the complaint, the UN opened an investigation, removed those allegedly involved and important donor countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, suspended funding to the organization.
Over the weekend, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell reiterated that stopping funding for UNRWA would be “disproportionate and dangerous.”
The survival of the more than 2 million Gazans depends largely on UNRWA, as it is the main organization that provides food and shelter aid within the enclave. It is “the backbone of the entire humanitarian response in Gaza,” Guterres stressed on January 31, while holding urgent meetings with representatives of Western governments.
Blinken arrives in Riyadh, in an effort to achieve a new truce between Hamas and the Israeli Army
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia in the coming hours, his fifth visit to the region since the ongoing war in Gaza escalated nearly four months ago.
Blinken is trying to strengthen his country's mediation, together with Qatar and Egypt, to achieve an eventual new provisional ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli troops. Although the Islamist group confirmed on January 30 that it received the proposal after talks between mediators held in Paris, the movement has not yet given a response.
However, Blinken stressed that there are “real hopes” of success regarding a possible agreement.
The plan seeks a new temporary cessation of hostilities between Hamas militants and the Israeli Army and the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7 and remain in Gaza, when the war is almost four months old.
Blinken's visit to Riyadh also comes after Washington carried out retaliatory strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria, and against Houthi rebel sites in Yemen, the latest escalation of the conflict that is spreading across the country. Middle East.
The diplomatic trip also takes place at a time when the Joe Biden Administration is gradually showing some frustration with Israel by taking actions such as imposing sanctions on “extremist settlers” for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, but the United States still pays attention. Ignoring international calls for Israel to end its offensive in Gaza. At least 27,365 Palestinians have died in the enclave, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health released on Sunday, February 4.
With Reuters, AFP and local media
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