Explosions, airstrikes and gunfire rocked northern Gaza on Saturday, the third day of an Israeli military operation that has again uprooted tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Fierce fighting pitted the Israeli army against Hamas fighters on Saturday in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the living conditions of residents are “disastrous”, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa ).
On May 7, Israeli troops launched a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, which Israel then presented as the last major Hamas stronghold. But fighting has since intensified in several other regions, particularly in the north.
Since Thursday, the Israeli army has been carrying out an operation in Shujaiya, an eastern neighborhood of Gaza City, where it says there are “terrorist infrastructures”.
It said Saturday that it had eliminated “dozens” of fighters in 48 hours, reporting “close combat with terrorists.” In a statement, it added that it had discovered observation posts, weapons, drones and a rocket launch pad near schools, as well as tunnel entrances.
The armed wings of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad said they were engaged in fighting with Israeli forces in the area.
The Palestinian Civil Defense reported on Friday “numerous deaths” and the flight of “tens of thousands of civilians”, after a call from the army to evacuate the neighborhood.
Fighting in the North and South
On Friday night and Saturday morning, AFP journalists heard explosions, airstrikes and gunfire coming from the area.
Also in Gaza City, the Civil Defense said four bodies and six wounded were recovered from the rubble of a building hit by an Israeli strike in the Al-Sedra area.
In the central Palestinian territory, residents cleared rubble in the Maghazi refugee camp after an overnight strike on a house, which hit a medical center.
Further south, five bodies were discovered after a bombing on tents for displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, near Rafah, according to medics.
The army is continuing operations in the latter town, which borders Egypt, saying it has eliminated “many terrorists” there.
Witnesses reported deaths and injuries among displaced people in the Shakush camp, west of Rafah, after a new incursion by the Israeli army and shooting. A source at the Nasser medical center in Khan Yunis said it had received four corpses from western Rafah.
The Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
32 hospitals damaged
During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped, 116 of whom are still being held in Gaza, of whom 42 died, according to the army.
Israel has promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization, as do the United States and the European Union.
Its offensive on the Gaza Strip has so far killed 37,834 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry.
The war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the small, besieged Palestinian territory of 2.4 million inhabitants, more than half of whom have been displaced: water and food are lacking and the health system is on its knees.
A total of 32 hospitals out of 36 in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since October 7, and of these, 20 are now out of service, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Nothing new”
A senior Palestinian Hamas official said Saturday in Beirut that negotiations for an agreement with Israel on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages have not led to any progress.
A plan presented at the end of May by American President Joe Biden, proposed according to him by Israel, provides for a six-week ceasefire accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of certain hostages and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
According to the American site Axios, the American administration presented a “new version” of a draft agreement between Israel and Hamas, including amendments to “certain clauses (…) with the aim of bridging the gap that separates them and reach an agreement.
Osama Hamdan, a senior official in the Beirut-based Palestinian Islamist movement, said his movement had received the latest proposal for a ceasefire agreement on June 24, but that it brought “nothing new.”
“We can say that there is nothing new in the negotiations to stop the Israeli aggression,” he said at a press conference.
The plan presented by Mr. Biden has so far remained a dead letter, with the protagonists sticking to intangible demands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the war until Hamas is completely defeated and all hostages are freed.
Hamas demands a permanent ceasefire and a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
With AFP
