At least 140 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours, a deadly climbing while Israel seemed ready to launch a major offensive in the besieged territory.
The Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 300 people since Thursday, said Palestinian health officials, one of the deadliest periods of war since the cease-fire talks were collapsed in March. The intensified bombing campaigns have occurred while the total blockade of Israel on humanitarian aid aroused fears of famine in Palestinian territory.
“Since midnight, we have received 58 martyrs, while a large number of victims remain under the rubble. The situation inside the hospital is catastrophic,” said Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian hospital north of Gaza early on Saturday. The number of deaths in the past 24 hours was at least 146, according to Reuters.
The climbing of attacks was sentenced by the head of the United Nations Human Rights, Volker Türk on Friday, who said that the bombing campaign was supposed to move the Palestinians and that it was equivalent to ethnic cleaning.
“This last bombs dam … and the refusal of humanitarian aid underlines that there seems to be a push for a permanent demographic change in Gaza which is the challenge of international law and which is equivalent to ethnic cleaning,” he said.
Turk’s comments were also taken over by UN secretary general, António Guterres, who called for a permanent ceasefire during a Sumpete of the Arab League in Baghdad on Saturday.
Israel said bombing was the initial tank of the Gideon operation, an expansion of the campaign in Gaza intended to “achieve all war objectives in Gaza”. The strikes were accompanied by a large accumulation of troops along the borders of Gaza, aimed at establishing the “operational control” of Gaza parts.
The campaign, as well as the aid blockade in the territory, had to force Hamas to release hostages, have said Israeli officials. The terrorist organization took around 250 hostages during its October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the death of around 1,200 people. Fifty-seven hostages are still held by Hamas.
The attacks occurred while Donald Trump left the Middle East after a four-day visit to the Arab Gulf countries, during which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar made commitments to invest billions in the United States.
The hope that Trump’s visit could make renewed progress on Trucea talks in Gaza was destroyed after Trump reiterated his desire to transform Gaza into a “zone of freedom”. This was considered a probable wink to its plan in the United States by assuming control of the Palestinian territory and transforming it into “Middle East Riviera”.
A January cease-fire broke down in mid-March after Israel refused to go to a second planned phase that could have led to the end of the war. The prospects for a lasting truce seemed more distant, as the Israeli security firm approved the plans in early May which could involve the seizure of the whole Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s ceasefire talks were also expected to dominate the summit of the Arab League, where Arab officials met on Saturday. The Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said that participating ministers would approve a reconstruction plan for Gaza, a contrast to Trump’s offer to take control of the Palestinian territory. The ministers then promised $ 40 million in reconstruction funds for Gaza and Lebanon.
Later, on Saturday, Hamas confirmed that a new series of discussions on the ceasefire in Gaza with Israel was underway in Doha of Qatar. A group official, Taher al-Nono, told Reuters that the two parties discussed all questions without “preconditions”.
The offensive of Israel in Gaza, launched in retaliation for attacks in October 2023, killed around 53,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The hunger and generalized malnutrition in children also skyrocketed after Israel cut vital humanitarian aid on the territory on March 2. There are few medical care in Gaza due to rare supplies and repeated Israeli strikes in hospitals and medical facilities.
The head of the United Nations, Tom Fletcher, exhorted a resumption of aid to Gaza on Tuesday in a speech to the United Nations Security Council, where he said that famine is established.
Israel has always denied that its 10 -week blockade causes hunger in Gaza. However, Trump recognized Thursday that “many people are starving in Gaza”.
Israel, who claims that Hamas Hijacks Aid to finance its soldiers, proposed a plan to distribute Hubs aid to Gaza led by private entrepreneurs and kept by Israeli troops. The United States has supported the plan, and a body called the Gaza Humaninian Foundation should start to make the plan by the end of the month.
Help groups described the plan as impracticable and potentially illegal as it could cause forced displacement. They urged Israel to raise its blockade and to count on the UN and the other existing humanitarian bodies, which have long experience in transporting Gaza aid.
“We can save hundreds of thousands of survivors,” said Fletcher. “We have rigorous mechanisms to make sure that our aid is coming to civilians and not in Hamas.”
