Photo: Mohammed Abed Agence France-Presse A Palestinian carries a mirror found Wednesday in the rubble of a building bombed by the Israeli army.
Adel Zaanoun – Agence France-Presse and Benoît Finck – Agence France-Presse respectively in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem
08:44
- Middle East
Intense Israeli bombardments left dozens of dead on Wednesday across the Gaza Strip, besieged and threatened by famine, where the army continues its operations near several large hospitals.
The war that has raged since October 7 between Israel and Hamas has seen no respite in the Palestinian territory, where 66 people were killed in overnight bombings, according to the Islamist movement's Ministry of Health.
A ball of fire lit up the night sky above Rafah after an airstrike on this town in southern Gaza where there are a million and a half Palestinians, according to the UN, the majority of them displaced.
In the morning, thick clouds of smoke rose above a densely populated area in the northern Gaza Strip.
Three hospitals targeted
The ground operations of the Israeli army continue meanwhile in and around three large hospitals, accused by Israel of harboring Hamas bases.
The army announced on Wednesday that it was continuing its operation which began on March 18 in the large al-Chifa hospital complex in the northern city of Gaza, claiming to have killed so far “dozens of terrorists”, having arrested “some hundreds” and having discovered weapons.
Hundreds of residents have fled the neighborhood for a week.
Military operations also continue in Khan Younes, in the south, in the area of two hospitals approximately one kilometer apart, Nasser and al-Amal, the army added.
Al-Amal hospital is “out of service” and “has stopped functioning completely,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday after the evacuation of civilians there.< /p>
According to the Red Crescent, thousands of civilians were still in the Nasser hospital on Tuesday, the largest in the south of the territory, surrounded by the army.
“The forced closure of al-Amal Hospital, one of the few remaining medical facilities in the south […] endangers countless lives,” denounced the International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies -Red (IFRC).
In a sign of a desperate humanitarian situation, the Hamas Ministry of Health announced Tuesday the deaths of 18 people, including 12 drowned at sea while trying to recover parachuted food and six killed in stampedes under the same circumstances.
Hamas called on foreign countries to cease these operations and demanded the opening of land access for humanitarian aid, strictly controlled by Israel and very insufficient in the face of the immense needs of the 2.4 million people inhabitants.
The United States said it would continue these airdrops, while “working tirelessly to increase the arrival of humanitarian assistance by land.”
On the ground, residents watch for parachutes every day and rush when they land, jostling and even fighting.
“People die for a can of tuna,” said one of them, Mohamad Al-Sabaawi, brandishing the only can of tuna he was able to recover after an airdrop on the northern Gaza Strip.
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“Call to the world”
The war broke out on October 7 when Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official Israeli data.
According to Israel, around 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, of whom 34 are believed to have died.
Israel reacted at the highest level on Wednesday after revelations of sexual assault suffered by a former Hamas hostage, Amit Soussana, during her 55-day captivity.
Army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari called on “the world to act” and do “everything to free our hostages,” after publication in the New York Times of an interview with this 40-year-old lawyer. “This is a horrible testimony, it is a wake-up call,” he added.
In retaliation for this attack which traumatized the country, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the 'European Union. Its army launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed 32,414 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“Bring Them Home”
The UN Security Council adopted on Monday a first resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, by 14 votes in favor and one abstention, that of the United States which had until then blocked three drafts of resolution in this sense.
The United States has increased pressure in recent weeks on its Israeli ally to spare civilians and abandon its announced ground offensive against Rafah.
Qatar, a mediating country with the United States and Egypt, said Tuesday that indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a truce associated with an exchange of Palestinian hostages and prisoners were continuing , although both camps blame each other for the blockage.
In Tel Aviv, families of hostages demonstrated Tuesday evening to urge the Israeli government to reach a deal.
“Enough worrying about the little details! Get to work and bring them home now! said Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of Yoram Metzger, a Hamas hostage.
The war in the Gaza Strip is accompanied by an outbreak of violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, announced Wednesday that it had fired rockets into northern Israel, where Israeli emergency services reported one dead, in retaliation for a bombing blamed on the Israeli army which killed seven rescue workers in a border village.