Health officials in Gaza reported on Sunday that 77 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours. Egypt welcomed an Israeli delegation for fresh negotiations aimed at achieving a ceasefire with Hamas, the group that rules Gaza. This came as fighting continued to rage across the region.
A prominent Islamic Jihad member was reportedly killed by the Israeli forces during an attack on a command center located in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Hospital in downtown Gaza. It made no reference to his status or name.
“The command center and terrorists were struck precisely, ” the military said, adding it was intended to minimize “harm to uninvolved civilians in the area of the hospital”. “The Al-Aqsa Hospital building was not damaged and its functioning was not affected.”
The Hamas ally Islamic Jihad did not immediately respond.
According to Palestinian health officials and Hamas media, a strike hit multiple tents within the Al-Aqsa Hospital, killing four individuals and injuring numerous others, including five journalists.
Since October 7, Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza has claimed the lives of almost 32,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities. Israel claims at least one-third of the deaths are combatants, but health officials claim the majority of the deaths are civilians.
According to Israeli estimates, Hamas militants crossed the border, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages in southern Israel. This sparked the start of the conflict.
Under the supervision of Qatar and Egypt, the two parties have intensified their negotiations. These talks focus on a six-week postponement of Israel’s offensive in exchange for the possible release of 40 of the 130 captives that Hamas militants still hold in Gaza following their raid on October 7.
Only that combination, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would result in the release of the captives. Netanyahu pledged on Sunday to maintain military pressure on Hamas while being flexible in the negotiations.
Hamas hopes to use any agreement to compel an end to the conflict and the evacuation of Israeli forces. Israel dismisses this, stating that it would eventually pick up where it left off in its declared mission to destroy Hamas, including its ability to govern and fight.
While awaiting word from mediators regarding a fresh Israeli offer, an official for Hamas told Reuters on Sunday that the organization would not attend the Cairo negotiations.
Moreover, the Gaza war has ignited cross-border combat with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and drawn missile launches against Israel from other Iranian-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq. This conflict has also deepened long-simmering hostility in the occupied West Bank.
ATTACKS IN ISRAEL
Emergency services reported that a member of Israel’s Arab minority attacked three soldiers near a bus stop in the southern city of Beersheba on Sunday. This incident, possibly signaling the beginning of rising tensions within the country, ended with one of the soldiers shooting the attacker dead. A few hours later, Israeli media reported that a Palestinian with a knife in a nearby shopping mall had wounded three people before being shot dead.
Transitioning to the situation in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Israeli forces kept barricading the two main hospitals. Simultaneously, tanks pounded the middle and eastern regions of the area.
Transitioning to the reported casualties, Palestinian health sources confirm four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip. Additionally, nine people were murdered in Bani Suhaila, close to Khan Younis.
The Israeli military claimed to have shot and killed seven attackers in Khan Younis, including one close to the Al-Amal hospital. Additionally, fifteen attackers were reportedly shot and killed in the central Gaza Strip.
The largest hospital in the region, Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, was still being used by Israeli soldiers, according to the health ministry. Neighbors reported that Israeli forces had demolished residential areas close to Al Shifa.
“I went out looking to buy some medicine from a pharmacy and what I saw was heart-breaking. Abu Mustafa, 49, stated, “complete streets with buildings that used to stand there had been destroyed.”
“This is genocide, not war,” he said over the phone to Reuters from Gaza City.
Israel claims that, in the face of intense international pressure, it is making every effort to prevent civilian casualties. Transitioning into active combat with militants on an urban battlefield underscores their commitment to this endeavor. According to the IDF, fighting in Gaza has claimed the lives of some 260 troops.
According to Netanyahu, hundreds more gunmen have turned themselves in and about 200 have been slain at the Al Shifa hospital.
“No hospital in the world looks like this. At a press conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu stated, “This is what a house of terrorists looks like.”
Speaking through spokespeople, Hamas has denied any military involvement at the hospital and claimed that the persons who died there were civilians.
Weapons were discovered at the hospital, according to the Israeli military, and in the Rimal neighborhood near Shifa, “several compounds used to launch anti-tank missiles and where snipers operated were struck by IAF aircraft.” The Israeli Air Force is abbreviated as IAF.
A somber Easter service was held at The Holy Family Church in Gaza City, where a few Christian Palestinians attended.
“My wish is that they leave us alone and that we go back to our lands and children,” said Winnie Tarazzi, a Gaza woman praying at the church.
There are about a thousand Christians in Gaza, the majority of them are Greek Orthodox.
A further demand made by Hamas in the truce negotiations is the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were driven from Gaza City and the adjacent areas southward during the initial phase of the conflict.
On Thursday, the World Court unanimously directed Israel. South Africa had accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The court ordered Israel to take all necessary and practical steps to guarantee the population’s access to essential food supplies.
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