Around thirty people were killed Friday in several Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to emergency services in the Palestinian territory, the scene of nearly 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, which announced a resumption of negotiations for a ceasefire. fire.
Posted at 7:02 a.m.
Updated at 1:10 p.m.
“It’s a tough day for the residents of Gaza due to the continued bombing by Israel,” Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.
According to him, rescuers found “nearly 30 dead”, including several women and children, and “more than 150 injured” after airstrikes across the entire territory, both in the north, center and south.
The Israeli army indicated that it had targeted in 24 hours, across the entire Gaza Strip, “around 40 gathering places of Hamas terrorists”, as well as “command centers” of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
PHOTO ABD ELHKEEM KHALED, REUTERS
Palestinian boys stand near the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in the Al Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
She noted that several of these targets were in buildings “that previously served as schools.”
An accusation rejected by Mahmoud Bassal, for whom the Israeli army “commits massacres under the pretext that (Hamas) activists are present”.
“They (Israelis) destroy everything, even trees. So humans… It’s a war of extermination,” denounced a Gazan, Mohammad Abou Labda, who lost his brother.
Rocket fire
A glimmer of hope in the midst of the fighting: indirect discussions between Hamas and Israel with a view to obtaining a truce in Gaza must resume on Friday in Doha, the Palestinian movement announced.
According to him, these exchanges will focus on “the guarantee that the agreement leads to a complete cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of the (Israeli) occupying forces from the Gaza Strip”. Israel did not immediately comment on this announcement.
Despite intense diplomatic efforts led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, no truce has been concluded in Gaza since the one-week truce at the end of November 2023.
New indirect negotiations in December in Doha had revived hopes of a ceasefire, associated with a release of hostages, but Hamas and Israel had once again accused each other of stopping them.
On the ground, the Israeli army announced on Friday that three “projectiles” had been fired towards Israel from the north of the Gaza Strip, without any injuries being reported.
Since last week, Israel has claimed to be the subject of almost daily rocket fire from the northern coastal territory. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened on Wednesday to further intensify strikes on Gaza if his country continued to be targeted.
“Humanitarian disaster”
The Israeli army also successively announced on Friday that it had intercepted a missile and a drone coming from Yemen, attacks claimed by the Houthi rebels, supported by Iran.
Claiming to act in solidarity with the Palestinians, the Houthis regularly target Israel, even though it is nearly 2,000 kilometers away.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it was “deeply alarmed by the devastating impact of winter rains and freezing temperatures” on war-displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
“Vulnerable people, including at least seven infants, died of hypothermia,” warned the Director General of the IOM, the American Amy Pope.
The war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures. .
Of 251 people kidnapped during the attack, 96 are still being held hostage in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army.
At least 45,658 people, mainly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation in Gaza, including 77 in the last 24 hours, according to the latest report on Friday from the Hamas Ministry of Health, whose data is judged reliable by the UN.
Palestinian authorities announce seven injured in Israeli raid in West Bank
Palestinian authorities announced Friday evening that an Israeli military operation in a refugee camp in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, had left seven injured, including two in serious condition.
“Seven people were shot and injured during clashes in the Balata camp, including two with serious chest wounds,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army responded that it was investigating the reported facts.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA confirmed the Red Crescent’s toll and spoke of “snipers deployed on the roofs” during the Israeli raid.
