Gaza: Strikes Continue, Many Hostages May Die, According to Hamas

Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obaidah said in a statement to his group “Lost Contact” Its fighters were tasked with protecting five Israeli hostages, including three elderly men shown in a video released on December 18.

“We believe these hostages were killed in a Zionist attack in the Gaza Strip.” announced without further details.

These reports could not be confirmed by Israeli authorities. The Israeli military announced that five soldiers had been killed in Gaza since Friday.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours by relentless Israeli bombings and ground operations, Hamas said, after a UN resolution on humanitarian aid failed to reach a resolution.

Israeli planes and artillery targeted several targets from north to south of the territory, including the Nusirat refugee camp (center), where 18 people were killed in an overnight attack, he added.

“Death Sentence” According to Hamas

In southern Gaza's largest city of Khan Younes, clouds of smoke rise after a blast as bodies and wounded are taken to Nasser Hospital.

Men carry a crying woman over the bodies of their loved ones, a man bends down and cries, hands in a black body bag. Outside, others pray before the body.

In addition to aerial bombardments, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in the north of the territory on October 27, allowing it to advance south and take several divisions. Israel lost a total of 139 soldiers in Gaza.

On Saturday, Hamas Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Khidre accused Israeli forces of having this week. “He committed many brutal massacres in the Jabaliya camp, Tal al-Zadar area and in Jabaliya city that led to the deaths of dozens of people.”

“Occupation forces executed dozens of civilians in the streets (…) Dozens of martyrs were rescued”he added.

“The occupation executed many of them in front of their families”The Hamas government said in a statement.

AFP asked that the military did not specifically respond to the execution allegations, but pledged its offensive “Against military targets complies with the provisions of international law”.

AFPTV images show a body under rubble and massive destruction in the streets of Jabaliya.

In Beit Lahia (in the north), civil protection was found “Dozens of mutilated bodies”.

The army, for its part, released images showing its soldiers advancing through rubble and firing on targets south of Gaza City. She said that Armed terrorists who tried to attack the soldiers were eliminated. And so on “Buildings used as military bases by Hamas destroyed”.

There is no ceasefire

After five days of tough negotiations, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday. “immediately” And “largely” Aid to Gaza where civilians live in dire conditions.

A decision to avoid calling Aku “Ceasefire”Rejected by Israel and its American allies, the demands “Create the conditions for a permanent cessation of hostilities”.

The real purpose of the resolution is still uncertain: humanitarian aid entering Gaza, controlled by Israel, comes in trickles and tepid from Egypt and the Israeli border region of Kerem Shalom, but it is far from meeting the enormous needs. A population most threatened by famine, according to the United Nations.

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UN chief Antonio Guterres made the accusation on Friday “Mass Barriers” Aid distribution as conducted by Israel “attack” In Gaza. Only a ceasefire can do that “Start responding to people's desperate needs.”

In this context, efforts by Egyptian and Qatari mediators to reach a new agreement in late November that would allow more aid to be sent came a week after allowing the release of 105 hostages and 240 others. Palestinians arrested by Israel.

But the fighters are persistent.

Hamas is demanding a cessation of hostilities before any negotiations over the hostages.

Israel is open to the idea of ​​a ceasefire, but rejects any ceasefire before then “removal” Especially the Islamic movement, which has been classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Israel.

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“Hunger, Famine, Diseases”

In the Gaza Strip, entire neighborhoods were destroyed and 1.9 million of the approximately 2.4 million people displaced by the violence. “Immediate ceasefire is the most important demand”WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

He recalled that “Hunger, Starvation and the Spread of Disease” Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live in makeshift camps, threatening the sprawling 362 km2 area.

“No place is safe, (there's) nowhere to go”Thomas White, director of UNRWA in Gaza, responded at X. “People in Gaza are people, not pieces on a chessboard.”