Gaza: Israel claims strike, at least 27 dead according to Hamas

The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the attack. early Thursday an airstrike against a school of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, sheltering according to her "a Hamas base", which left at least 27 dead according to the Islamist movement.

“Army fighter jets (…) carried out a precise strike on a Hamas base located inside an Unrwa school in the Nousseirat region” , said the Israeli army in a statement, which reported “several terrorists killed”.

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists belonging to the Nukhba forces and who participated in the deadly attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7 operated in this compound. The terrorists directed their campaign of terror from the area of the school while exploiting it and using it as a shelter”, assured the army.

Young Palestinians swing on suspended electrical cables in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 5, 2024. © AFP – Eyad BABA

The Hamas media office announced at least 27 dead and many injured in this strike against the Nusseirat camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip.

“A considerable number of martyrs and wounded continue to flock to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital”, located in the town of Deir al-Balah, near Nousseirat, assured the Hamas media office accusing the Israeli army of committing a “horrible massacre”.

Earlier in the night, this hospital had indicated that it was facing the “failure of one of its electrical generators” which risked complicating the treatment of vulnerable patients and causing “a humanitarian catastrophe”.

– “The smell of blood” –

Before this strike, this hospital had already received since Tuesday “at least 70 dead and more than 300 injured, mostly women and children, following Israeli strikes on central areas of the Gaza Strip”, according to Médecins sans Frontières.

Palestinians evacuate bodies found in the rubble of the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza City on June 5 © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA

“The smell of blood in the emergency room this morning was unbearable. There are people lying everywhere, on the ground, outside. Bodies were being brought in in plastic bags. The situation is unsustainable”, Karin Huster, MSF coordinator for Gaza, declared on is found at the heart of a diplomatic storm and on the verge of rupture after Israel accused in January a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza of being involved in the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which sparked the war in class, October 7.

This led many countries, including the United States, the main donor, to abruptly suspend funding to the agency, threatening its efforts to deliver aid to Gaza, although several states have since resumed their efforts. payments.

And the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, demanded that Israel stop “its campaign” against his agency, in an article published last Friday in the New York Times.

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– Meeting in Qatar –

After eight months of war, Egypt, the The United States and Qatar, which play the role of mediators, are continuing their efforts towards a ceasefire, a few days after the announcement by American President Joe Biden of a road map proposed according to him by Israel.

Hostages in Gaza © AFP – Paz PIZARRO, Bertille LAGORCE, Jean-Philippe CHOGNOT

This provides, in a first phase, a six-week ceasefire accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of certain hostages kidnapped during the attack on Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

According to a source close to the negotiations, a meeting took place on Wednesday in Doha “between the Qatari Prime Minister, the head of Egyptian intelligence and Hamas, to discuss an agreement for a truce in Gaza and an exchange hostages and prisoners”.

The contradictory demands of the two camps leave little hope of seeing the plan announced by Mr. Biden come to fruition.

Israel says it wants to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union.

Hamas leader Ismaël Haniyeh reiterated on Wednesday the demands of the movement which will study “seriously and positively” any proposal based on “a complete stop” of the Israeli offensive, “a total withdrawal” Israeli from Gaza and “an exchange of prisoners “.

The war was sparked by the attack in southern Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza on October 7, which resulted in deaths of 1,194 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

Of the 251 people taken as hostages on the day of attack, 120 are still detained in Gaza, of whom 41 died according to the Israeli army.

In response, the Israeli army launched a deadly offensive in the strip of Gaza which has so far left 36,586 dead, mainly civilians, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas-led Gaza government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced on Wednesday a “total annihilation of the civilian population” in Gaza, during a meeting with press agencies, including AFP.

– Northern Front –

On another front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was “ready for a very intense operation” at the border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah exchanges daily fire with the Israeli army, in support of Hamas.

Plumes of smoke emerge during an Israeli bombardment on the village of Khiam, on the southern border of Lebanon, June 5, 2024 © AFP – Rabih DAHER

The US State Department warned after these remarks against an “escalation” in Lebanon, “which would significantly harm the security” of Israel.

The UN said it was “very concerned” about tensions on the border between Lebanon and Israel and called on the various parties to de-escalate.

Early Thursday, anti-rocket sirens sounded in Metula, an Israeli town backed by Lebanon.

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