The number of victims from Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip continues to rise and This Thursday it exceeded 30,000 dead and 70,400 wounded, while civilians in the north of the enclave, increasingly weakened by the shortage of water and food, were directly attacked by Israeli soldiers this morning.
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“The number of victims of Israeli aggression has increased to 30,035 dead and 70,457 wounded since last October 7,” when the war broke out, of which 70% are women and children, reported the Ministry of Health of the enclave, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.
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The number of victims increased in the last 24 hours after “The Israeli occupation committed nine massacres against families in the Gaza Strip that resulted in 81 deaths and 132 injuries”he explained.
However, these figures do not include the more than 70 dead and 250 injured left by an Israeli attack this morning against Gazans who were gathering to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza City.
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After that incident, “dozens of wounded, from critical to serious, arrived at the Al Shifa medical complex, which may raise the death toll from the massacre to at least 100,” said Ashraf al Qudra, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. by ensuring that That hospital “cannot cope with the volume and type of injuries that arrive due to its weak medical and human capabilities.”
For the Gazan government, “the attack was premeditated and intentional.” “The occupation army knew that these victims had come to this area to obtain food and help, but they killed them in cold blood”.
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This Thursday's figure is a record figure that precedes, on the one hand, a devastating and unknown future for the Palestinians, and on the other, an Israeli society traumatized, polarized and willing to maintain the war offensive.
How to contextualize an avalanche of figures?
In this ground offensive, like the one in 2008, The international press is not allowed to access the enclave, which hinders the right to information, especially after the murder of almost a hundred Palestinian journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPI).
The Israeli Army has confirmed the deaths of 242 soldiers since the start of the ground offensive on October 27, while since October 7, the Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, has recorded 30,035 deaths, mostly women and children, and 70,457 injured; in addition to some 7,000 bodies under the rubble.
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Total, 4.3% of Gazans have been killed or injured; in a population with an average age of 18 years distributed over 365 square kilometers – a surface area similar to Medellín (Colombia), Málaga (Spain) or Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) –.
What is Hamas?
Hamas, an Islamist group that carried out the brutal attack on Israeli soil on October 7 that left some 1,200 dead and more than 250 kidnapped, was born in 1987 in the shadow of the First Intifada, with the promise of eradicating the State of Israel and contrary to the Oslo Accords. The West, including the US and the EU, considers him a terrorist.
Its popularity grows as a provider of education, food and health, and in 2006 it wins an election in the Strip – after the withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the enclave – which triggers its blockade by Israel and Egypt. More than half of the current Gazan population was not born then and Hamas has not gone to the polls again.
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Israel claims to have killed about 12,000 of its militiamen in this war; with few high-ranking casualties except the targeted assassination by drone of Saleh al Arouri in Lebanon. Hamas reduces its casualty figure by half; while critical voices fear that this war, with so many civilian victims, will increase the membership of young people in the militias.
Hamas has had the support of Qatar, Iran and Turkey for years, and a network of 400 kilometers of tunnels in Gaza was initially used for smuggling goods. -like cows or cigarettes from Egypt- but also for criminal activities such as the kidnapping of soldier Gilad Shalit.
Why doesn't Netanyahu facilitate a truce?
If there is a name that everyone knows in Israel, it is that of Gilad Shalit, the corporal kidnapped by Hamas in 2006, released in 2011 in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, among them Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in the Strip and mastermind of the attacks. October 7, who was serving five life sentences. An agreement under the command of the then Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, now reluctant to give in on this ground.
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Another reason pointed out by political analysts is that Netanyahu prioritizes a disagreement for his own survival, given the possibility of losing the support of far-right ministers if he accepts a prolonged truce, while if he does not, the centrist Benny Gantz – current favorite in the polls for prime minister – could withdraw his support. in the war cabinet.
In total, 134 people remain captive – four for years and thirty already dead. In October, Hamas freed four, and during the November truce, 105 more captives returned to Israel in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. The Army, so far, has rescued only three people by force.
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Almost every week there are protests in cities like Tel Avivwhere together with relatives of the kidnapped, thousands of Israelis ask the government to put the lives of their own people first and Netanyahu to resign and call elections.
What do Israelis know about Palestinians, and vice versa?
This war comes after decades of total disconnection, occupation and separation between Israelis and Palestinians. The former tend to interact with the latter only from a position of power, as soldiers, while fulfilling their mandatory military service.
Palestinians, for their part, do not enjoy freedom of movement within their lands, and need permits to enter, work or go to the doctor in Israel or East Jerusalem, a Palestinian territory annexed by Israel in 1980.. This makes any interaction between the two extremely difficult.
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In the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Israel maintains about 500 military checkpoints or roadblocks, some mobile, according to August 2023 UN data; while Israelis are prohibited by law from visiting the West Bank, with signs stating that it is “dangerous to your life.”
The humanitarian crisis worsens
The Israeli Army confirmed this Thursday that its attacks by air, land and sea continue throughout the Gaza Strip, despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire.
“At least 25 civilians, most of whom were children and women, were killed today in a series of Israeli air and artillery strikes on the Al Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in the central Strip,” the agency said. Palestinian news official, Wafa.
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Besides, Dozens of civilians disappeared under the rubble as a result of the Israeli bombing of multiple residential squares in the center of the Palestinian enclave, increasing the figure to some 8,000 missing in total, the agency added.
The north of the enclave, where according to Hamas there are some 700,000 civilians, has been the hardest hit by the unprecedented humanitarian crisis left by the war, amid the massive destruction of homes, the collapse of hospitals, the outbreak of epidemics and the increasingly catastrophic shortages of drinking water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel.
On Wednesday, Kamal Adwana and Al Awda hospitals, both located in the north of the Strip, announced the complete suspension of their services.
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Besides, At least six children have died in hospitals in that area from malnutrition and dehydration in the last two days..
Faced with the difficulty of introducing humanitarian aid by land, several countries have dropped packages with food and supplies from the air to various points in the Strip to relieve the two million displaced people, almost the entire population of Gaza.
The war broke out on October 7 after a Hamas attack against Israel that left some 1,200 dead and 250 kidnapped.
EFE
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