New Israeli attacks have rocked Gaza for the second consecutive day after the truce was broken, according to local sources.
Clouds of gray smoke loom over the Strip, where the Ministry of Health led by Hamas said nearly 200 people had been killed since the truce was broken 24 hours ago. “What we are doing now is striking Hamas military targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters. With the resumption of hostilities, the armed wing of Hamas received “orders to resume fighting” and to “defend the Gaza Strip”, according to a source close to the group who asked to remain anonymous. International leaders and humanitarian groups have condemned the resumption of hostilities. The United States has said it is working with regional partners to reach another ceasefire. “We will continue to work with Israel, Egypt and Qatar to restore a truce,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in California.
Israel, “over 400 targets hit since the end of the pause”
The Israeli military said today it has attacked more than 400 “terrorist targets” in the Gaza Strip since the end of a lull in fighting with Hamas. Air, naval and ground forces were involved, it is specified, adding that fighter planes hit “more than 50 targets in a large attack in the Khan Yunis area” in the south of the territory.
Hamas, the death toll since the end of the truce is 240
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip said today that 240 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the lull in fighting ended. Another 650 people were injured in “hundreds of airstrikes, artillery bombardments and
of the navy, everywhere in the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement, adding that Israeli forces “particularly targeted Khan Yunis, where dozens of houses were destroyed.”
Unicef, before the truce there were already more than 5300 children killed
Before the lull in fighting more than 5,300 Palestinian children were killed in 48 days of relentless bombardment in Gaza, a figure that does not include many children still missing and presumably buried under the rubble. This is what Unicef says, adding: “children need a lasting humanitarian ceasefire. All the children of the State of Palestine and Israel deserve peace. If the violence were to return to this intensity, we can assume that hundreds more of children will be killed and injured every day. The Gaza Strip is again, as of yesterday, the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.” “For seven days – explains UNICEF Director General Catherine Russell – there has been a glimmer of hope for children in the midst of this horrible nightmare. More than 30 children held hostage in Gaza have been freed and reunited with their families. The humanitarian pause has
allowed to increase deliveries of essential aid to Gaza and throughout the region. UNICEF and its partners have been able to significantly scale up operations and programs. And we were able to begin reuniting separated children with their families.
This was not enough to meet the scale of humanitarian needs, but it was a start. We now need safer, more predictable access to reach injured, displaced and traumatized children. And we need to get help to children who are vulnerable to the cold, wet weather that has arrived. Children need a lasting humanitarian ceasefire. We call on all parties to ensure that children are protected and assisted, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law. All children of the State of Palestine and Israel – concludes Russell – deserve peace and the hope of a better future”.