Heavy clashes and explosions rock the Gaza Strip, Palestine. This was conveyed by eyewitnesses on Saturday (30/3). The Red Crescent reported several people died in the latest chaotic aid distribution in the north of the region as famine threatens.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a new round of negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants, following Monday’s binding UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire. The world’s top court ruling further ordered Israel to ensure aid reaches civilians whose desperation was revealed again on Saturday.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens injured in gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery north of Gaza. Eyewitnesses told AFP that Gaza residents monitoring aid deliveries fired shots into the air, but Israeli troops in the area also opened fire and several moving trucks hit people trying to get food.
The Israeli military told AFP it had no record of the incident described. Fighting has not abated — including around the region’s largest hospital — and the latest toll from the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said at least 82 more people had been killed in the previous 24 hours.
The Hamas press office reported more than 50 Israeli airstrikes over the past day. Civilian houses were targeted throughout the coastal area as well as tank fire in the Gaza City and southern Gaza areas.
The Israeli military on Saturday said it had struck dozens of targets, including militants and their compounds in central and northern Gaza. The war began with a Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
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Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 32,705 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.
Netanyahu’s office said new talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages would take place in Doha and Cairo in the coming days with guidelines for resuming negotiations.
Famine began to occur
Talks appear deadlocked despite encouragement from the United States – which provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel – as well as fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to secure a ceasefire for the fasting month of Ramadan which is now more than halfway through.
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In its decision, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said it accepted South Africa’s argument that the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza required Israel to do more and that famine was now starting to occur.
The chaos in sending aid on Saturday was the latest incident to occur in northern Gaza. A UN-backed report predicts famine will occur in May unless there is urgent intervention.
A report released on March 19 warned that half of Gaza’s residents were experiencing famine. The Israeli Defense Ministry agency responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, said the assessment contained inaccuracies and dubious sources.
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Israel’s allies, and the UN, blame Israel for limited aid flows. But COGAT accused UN agencies of being unable to handle the amount of aid arriving every day.
With limited land access, several countries have started sending aid by air. One ship is expected to leave on Saturday from Cyprus with a second load of food aid.
ICJ decisions are binding but weak in law enforcement.
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Deep sadness
On Saturday the Israeli military said it was continuing operations around Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa for the 13th day. Most hospitals in the Palestinian territories are not functioning and the health system is “barely surviving,” said the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA.
The Israeli military accused Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group of hiding inside medical facilities, using patients, staff and refugees for cover. This accusation was denied by the militant.
Troops first attacked Al-Shifa in November. But the army said Palestinian fighters had left.
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The army said they continued to eliminate militants and recovered weapons in the area. This adds to the death toll of around 200 people previously reported in the Al-Shifa operation.
On Saturday, Hamas said that in addition to the ongoing Al-Shifa operation, Israeli forces continued their aggression against Nasser Hospital and surrounded Al-Amal Hospital in the same city. The army said troops continued to operate in the Al-Amal area of Khan Yunis.
Gaza’s Christian minority commemorates the Easter weekend. But in Jerusalem fewer pilgrims were seen.
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“There was a deep sadness you could feel in the air,” said John Timmons, from Australia, on Good Friday, as Christians in the walled Old City followed the path they believe Christ took to his crucifixion.
Speed up your steps
Fears of a wider regional conflagration intensified on Friday when Israel struck targets in Lebanon and Syria’s Hamas ally, Hezbollah. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are supported by Iran, Israel’s archenemy.
The Israeli military said it killed the deputy commander of a Hezbollah rocket unit in southern Lebanon in an airstrike. In new casualty figures released on Saturday, war monitors said that Israel’s strikes in Syria on Friday killed 7 Hezbollah members, 7 Syrian pro-Iran fighters, and 38 Syrian soldiers. This is the highest number of Syrian troops in an Israeli attack since the Gaza war began.
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“We have gone from being a party that rejects Hezbollah to being a party that pursues them. We are reaching all the places where Hezbollah is present,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Northern Command, and vowed to speed up its pace.
The UN said four of its military observers were injured on Saturday when a shell exploded near them in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu is under domestic pressure. He faced regular demonstrations, due to his failure to repatriate all the prisoners. (Z-2)
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