The Israeli Army maintains its offensive in the Gaza Strip despite international calls for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war against the Islamist group Hamas, and this Saturday reported that it has once again carried out raids in the south of the Palestinian enclave, where some 1.5 million displaced civilians are gathered.
"Overnight (Friday), in a targeted raid in the southern Gaza Strip, armored and engineering corps of the Israel Defense Forces operated to map buildings and neutralize explosive devices," an Army spokesman said.
In that operation, soldiers "encountered a terrorist cell coming out of a tunnel, and in response, troops fired projectiles at the terrorists and killed them," he added.
Immediately after the attack carried out by Hamas against Israel on October 7, which left more than 1,400 dead and marked the beginning of the war, the Israeli Army has relentlessly bombed the Palestinian enclave, where there are already more than 9,250 dead, the majority children and women.
In addition, on October 27, a land incursion began that has already advanced to Gaza City, the main city in the Strip.
Since the beginning of the escalation and citing security reasons, Israel ordered civilians living in the north of the narrow enclave to evacuate to the south, causing the displacement of some 1.5 million Gazans - more than half of the total population. - in the midst of a serious fuel shortage.
However, Israeli forces have continued bombing the southern part of the Strip, where living conditions for Gazans are increasingly critical due to overcrowding, the collapse of hospitals and shortages of drinking water, food, medicine and electricity. .
For their part, Hamas and other Palestinian militias have not stopped launching rockets towards Israel, sounding sirens even in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, although most of the projectiles are intercepted by air defense systems.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Israel on Friday for the third time since the war broke out to advocate for a temporary ceasefire that would allow the rescue of the 241 hostages that Hamas took in its attack, as well as the evacuation of wounded Palestinians to Egypt and sending more humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.
The visit took place amid growing international pressure for a humanitarian truce, advocated by the UN, the European Union, Canada and Arab countries.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured that his troops will continue the offensive and stressed that "Israel refuses a temporary truce that does not include the release of the hostages."
