Update on the war between Israel and Hamas: more than 200 dead in Gaza in 24 hours

 

Gaza's health ministry said 201 people died and 368 were injured the previous day.  A UN decision to increase aid to Gaza has been criticized as "almost meaningless". Israel continued its massacre in Gaza from north to south. The head of the World Health Organization reiterated his warning that "starvation is frightening in Gaza". More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, according to Gaza's official news agency. The death toll from Hamas attacks on Israel has reached nearly 1,140.

 

Palestinians see humanitarian aid as a great beacon of hope for survival and coping with the consequences of Israel's destruction in the Gaza Strip. 

Israel's attack on Gaza killed more than 200 people in 24 hours, the ruling Hamas government said on Saturday, as the United States pressed its allies to do more to protect civilians.
 
Despite growing calls for arrests and more aid to reach the war-torn Palestinians, Israel has shown little sign of renewing "Operation Iron Swords" launched 11 weeks ago, which aims to target Hamas. The fighting is now focused on Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Yunis, both considered strongholds by Palestinian militants who carried out the bloody October 7 attack on Israel.
After news of heavy Israeli shelling, gray and black smoke rose from the coastal area in Khan Yunis. The refugee camp-turned-city is the birthplace of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza and the Israeli man responsible for the October invasion.

The head of the Israeli army, Herzi Halevi, visited the soldiers on the ground in Khan Yunis, telling them that the operation was "very good, very popular, both the attack here and the conduct of the operation in full security." . Outside the mortuary at the city's Nasser Hospital, grieving relatives prayed, cried and stared blankly as they tried to process the unimaginable loss.
Hamas authorities have announced that the death toll in this war has now exceeded 20,000. "It's a genocide," resident Rafat Al Aydi said.
 
Israel denies directly targeting civilians and says the war against Hamas is necessary to ensure that the October attacks on farms, villages and kibbutzim, which killed around 1,140 people, cannot be repeated. 'We need a ceasefire' -
 
In Washington, President Joe Biden said he had another "long conversation" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
 
The White House said the talks focused on the "goals and timing" of Israeli military operations, as well as "the critical need to protect civilians, including humanitarian aid workers". Israeli officials read the call positively, saying that "the Prime Minister made it clear that Israel will continue the war until all its objectives are achieved."
 
A total of 144 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began almost a month ago. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, has had a close relationship with several American presidents. But disputes over how to fight the war in Gaza, when it will end and what will happen the next day have strained relations. The United States on Friday authorized the adoption of the UN Security Council effectively calling on Israel to allow the "immediate, safe and unrestricted" delivery of life-saving aid to Gaza "on a large scale."

The world powers debated for a few days on this issue and, at the insistence of Washington, some measures were taken, including the withdrawal of the cease-fire call. UN Secretary Antonio Guterres accused Israel of "creating serious obstacles" to the delivery of aid.
 
For the Palestinians of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, the prospect of aid is not enough. "We don't want food, we want a ceasefire," said Mahmud al-Shaer.
 
Ahmad al-Burawi, who fled from Beit Lahia on the mountain front, added: “We want to return to our land, that's all. We need a solution" to end the war." He said: “People are dying. The war has displaced about 80 percent of Gaza's 2.4 million people, according to UN estimates.

Israelis, including friends and relatives of the 129 captives held in Gaza, demonstrated again on Saturday in Tel Aviv.
 
The militant wing of Hamas said it and security forces had destroyed five of the detainees, including three elderly men who appeared in an arrest video released by the group this week. "We believe that the detainees were killed" during the Israeli attack, spokesman Abou Obeida said without providing evidence.
 
Talks aimed at sparking unrest and prisoner exchanges appear to have stalled. Initial negotiations allowed the release of 80 Israeli detainees in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners, but it ended after a week.
Far from Gaza, a new attack on a boat on Saturday showed that the war has already spread throughout the region. A shipping company said a drone strike damaged a chemical tanker in waters off Veraval, India.
 
There was no activity, but the Pentagon said it was "one of the drone attacks that took place in Iran." Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have repeatedly fired drones and missiles at ships in the Red Sea, saying they were targeting ships allied to Israel and supporting Gaza.
 
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri said on Saturday that the Houthis were acting "according to their own determination and strength." There has been heavy fighting between the Israeli army and Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group which is backed by Iran like Hamas.