Israeli warplanes struck a Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early this morning, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens, health officials said. The attack came as Israel said it would continue its offensive to crush Hamas rulers in the territory, despite calls from the United States for a pause to get aid to desperate civilians.
The rising death toll in Gaza has sparked growing international anger, with tens of thousands of people from Washington to Berlin taking to the streets on Saturday to demand an immediate ceasefire. Israel has rejected the idea of stopping its offensive, even for brief humanitarian pauses proposed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his current tour of the region.
Instead, he said the Hamas rulers of the besieged enclave were “facing the full force” of his troops. "Anyone in Gaza City is risking their life," argued Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Large columns of smoke rose as the Israeli army explained that it had surrounded Gaza City, the initial target of its offensive against Hamas. Gaza's Health Ministry has said more than 9,400 Palestinians have been killed in the territory in nearly a month of war, and that number is likely to rise as the attack continues.
Earlier today, airstrikes hit the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 33 people and wounding 42, Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.
He explained that emergency crews, helped by residents, were still searching the rubble for dead people or possible survivors. The camp is located in the evacuation zone where the Israeli military had urged Palestinian civilians in Gaza to seek refuge as it focuses its military offensive on northern areas.
Despite such calls, Israel has continued its bombings throughout Gaza, arguing that it is targeting Hamas fighters and assets everywhere. And he has accused them of using civilians as human shields.
Critics point out that Israel's attacks are often disproportionate, considering the large number of women and children killed in them. Blinken met with several Arab foreign ministers in Jordan on Saturday after meeting in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted there could be no temporary ceasefire until all hostages held by Hamas are freed.
Jordan's Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, stated that Arab countries want an immediate ceasefire and assured that "the entire region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define future generations." Blinken, however, said his current position was “that a ceasefire would simply give Hamas the ability to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7.”
He admitted, however, that humanitarian pauses can be essential to protect civilians, bring in aid and remove foreign nationals, "and at the same time allow Israel to achieve its goal: the defeat of Hamas."
Leaving church in Delaware on Saturday, US President Joe Biden hinted at progress in efforts to convince Israel to agree to a humanitarian pause, answering "yes" to reporters' questions about any progress on the issue. .
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, told reporters in Beirut that Blinken “should stop the aggression and should not propose ideas that cannot be implemented.” The spokesman for Hamas's military wing, who goes by the name Abu Obeida, said in a speech that fighters had destroyed 24 Israeli vehicles and caused casualties in the past two days.
Egyptian officials said their country and Qatar were proposing humanitarian pauses of six to 12 hours a day to allow the entry of aid and the evacuation of victims. They also asked Israel to release several women and elderly prisoners in exchange for hostages, suggestions that Israel seemed unlikely to accept. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak.
Israel has repeatedly demanded that northern Gaza's 1.1 million residents flee south, and on Saturday offered a three-hour deadline for citizens to do so. However, the head of the government's media office in Gaza, Salama Maarouf, argued that no one went south because the Israeli army had damaged the road, and claimed that Hamas "took advantage" of the window to advance south and attack. to Israeli forces.
Some Palestinians explained that they did not flee because they feared bombing by the Israeli army. "We don't trust them," said Mohamed Abed, who took refuge with his wife and children on the grounds of al-Shifa hospital, seeking, like thousands of Palestinians, safety in the medical centers in the north.
Swaths of residential neighborhoods in northern Gaza have been leveled by airstrikes. U.N. observers say more than half of the residents, an estimated 300,000, have been left behind and are taking refuge in U.N.-run facilities.
But deadly Israeli attacks have also repeatedly hit and damaged those shelters. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said it has lost contact with many in the north.
