At least five people died and 15 were injured in the attack. WHO: “Aid to the Palestinians or there will be a catastrophe”
The Israeli army claims to have accomplished this dozens of raids against Hamas targets in the Gaza Stripincluding several command centers, mortar launch sites and military compounds. At least five people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli air raid, “carried out without warning”, which targeted a house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. This was stated by the Ministry of the Interior of Gaza, controlled by Hamas, as reported by the satellite TV al-Jazeera.
Israeli forces also claim to have Hamas intelligence officer killed in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. The death toll from bombings in the area, meanwhile, has risen to 2,808 Palestinians killed and 10,859 injured. Israeli operations began after Hamas’ October 7 attack in Israel.
Hamas and the hostages
Hamas would be willing to release the hostages if Israel were to stop raids on the Gaza Strip. This was underlined by the spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, adding that there are almost 200 people detained at the moment. Hamas officials “have stated that they are ready to take the necessary measures to free citizens and civilians detained by resistance groups, but their point is that such measures require preparations that are impossible under the daily bombardment of Gaza,” the spokesperson said. , while the Islamist organization has not spoken publicly on the topic.
“We heard that they have no problem continuing to resist,” Kanaani said, referring to Hamas. “He said the resistance has the military capacity to continue to resist on the ground for a long time.”
“Time is running out” to find a political solution to the crisis in the Middle East Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian declared on social media X, announcing that he had spoken about the escalation between Hamas and Israel with his counterparts from Malaysia, Pakistan and Tunisia. According to Tehran’s head of diplomacy, “the probable spread of the war to other fronts is approaching an inevitable stage”.
The Israeli government, however, requests “to know the fate of the hostages” captured by Hamas and taken to Gaza, “before possibly agreeing on a temporary truce”. The pan-Arab television al-Arabiya claims this, citing its sources. Israel and Hamas have both denied previously circulated reports that an agreement had been reached for a temporary truce in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel has begun to learn from the mistakes that led to the deadly Hamas infiltration on October 7,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset. The Israeli prime minister issued a stark warning to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and Iran: “Do not test us or you will be seriously damaged.” The nation of Israel “is united in its goal of victory”, adds the prime minister, inviting the world to “unite and fight Hamas”. “Now many around the world understand who Israel is up against. They understand that Hamas represents a new version of Nazism. Just as the world united to defeat the Nazis and ISIS, so it must unite to defeat Hamas,” he said. -. We are committed to all families. We will not relax our efforts to bring back our brothers and sisters.”
“I don’t know” whether the 199 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are still alive. The head of political and international relations of the movement that governs in the Gaza Strip, Basem Naim, declared this to Sky New, claiming that it is news “impossible” to verify at this time due to the heavy bombing to which the enclave is subjected. “We told all mediators that we are ready to release all civilian hostages as soon as the aggression against our people is stopped,” she stressed.
The claim of the al-Qassam Brigades
The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claim responsibility for launching a “barrage of missiles” against Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, ten days after the terrible Hamas attack on Israel. In a message, the BBC reports, the al-Qassam Brigades say that the latest attacks are a response to Israel “targeting civilians” in operations following the October 7 attack.
According to the latest update from the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, approximately 78,000 people have been displaced by the war against the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. Israel has ordered the evacuation of communities around the Gaza Strip for security reasons.
The WHO’s appeal and Israel’s response
The World Health Organization has issued its latest warning about the growing deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, this time saying that in the enclave there remain only “24 hours of water, electricity and fuel” before “a real catastrophe” occurs. The UN agency’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed Al-Mandhari, said the bombed and besieged territory must be able to receive aid convoys currently blocked at the Rafah border with Egypt. If help doesn’t arrive, he explained, doctors will have to “prepare death certificates for their patients.”
Israel lashes out at the World Health Organization, accusing her of “defaming and frustrating” the Israeli government’s efforts to “reduce the danger to the lives” of Palestinians in Gaza by ordering them to evacuate from the north of the Strip. “While Hamas commits acts of terrorism in Israeli locations, torturing and murdering newborns, raping women and taking the sick and elderly, including Holocaust survivors, hostage, WHO decides to focus mainly on Israel’s countermeasures“, reads a statement from the Israeli Ministry of Health.
Humanitarian corridors
The Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Mohammad Shtayyeh asked the international community to intervene ”immediately” to help the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, stating that they are necessary “urgent humanitarian corridors”. Shtayyeh accused Israel of ”targeting civilian targets and hospitals” and claimed that ”500 women were killed” and that ”around 11 thousand people were injured”. Shtayyeh added that ”we are not animals as they are portraying us. Our people are under bombardment. We need humanitarian corridors”. In particular, the Palestinian prime minister asked Israel to stop “evicting people from their land”.
White House
“It is currently still closedwe hope, I say we hope, that later in the day it will be open for a few hours.” This is what White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, speaking of the Rafah crossing, from where the United States hopes to get out the American citizens, between 500 and 600, who are in Gaza. “I repeat, we just have to wait and see what happens”, he added, interviewed by CNN, recalling that even the hopes that the crossing could be opened on the weekend.”We continue to work on this in the most intense way” he adds.
Lebanon
Israel is returning fire in Lebanon after a shot was fired at its forces. Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari wrote this on X, adding that there were no Israeli casualties.
Source-www.adnkronos.com