Early this Wednesday, the Hamas Ministry of Health reported 3 dead and 12 injured during nighttime strikes by Israeli aircraft in the Rafah sector.
Although this information could not be independently verified, the south of the Gaza Strip was the scene of intense Israeli bombardments overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday.
According to testimonies, a ball of fire lit up the night sky above Rafah after an airstrike on this town on the southern tip of Gaza, where 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together, the majority displaced by the clashes. rage for months between the Israeli army and the Islamist movement Hamas.
Furthermore, “seven rescue workers” were reportedly killed in a nighttime strike against an emergency center in Habariyeh, in southern Lebanon, announced on condition of anonymity an official from the Jamaa Islamiya group, a Lebanese organization linked to Hamas.
According to another official, around ten rescuers were in this building at the time of the strike.
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On the ground, Israeli troops have been surrounding the al-Nasser hospital complex in the town of Khan Younes (south) since Tuesday, according to witnesses.
A kilometer further, the al-Amal hospital is “out of service” and “has stopped functioning completely,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday.
“The forced closure of al-Amal Hospital, one of the few remaining medical facilities in the South, has profound implications, putting countless lives at risk,” denounced the International Federation of Red Cross Societies and the Red Crescent (IFRC), deeming the state of the health system in the north of the territory “catastrophic” after more than five months of war.
These bombings come as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate.
The Hamas Ministry of Health announced Tuesday the deaths of 18 people, including 12 drowned at sea while trying to recover parachuted food and six killed in stampedes in the same circumstances.
Hamas called on foreign countries to cease these operations and demanded the opening of land access for humanitarian aid, strictly controlled by Israel.
A first resolution calling for a ceasefire
“Aid airdrops are one of the many ways we are using to deliver the aid that Palestinians in Gaza so desperately need and we will continue to do so,” while “working tirelessly to increase the arrival humanitarian assistance by land,” pleaded the White House.
The head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, visiting Israel, pleaded for massively expanding food deliveries to Gaza by facilitating the passage of trucks.
“People die for a can of tuna,” said a Palestinian, Mohamad Al-Sabaawi, brandishing the only can of tuna he was able to collect.
“We are waiting for aid drops, we are ready to die to get a can of beans, which we then share between 18 people,” said another Palestinian, deeming his situation miserable.
On Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a first resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza by 14 votes in favor and one abstention, that of the United States, which had until then blocked three draft resolutions in this regard. sense.
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UN resolution for a ceasefire: according to Israel, American abstention “harms” its war efforts
Furious with its American ally, Israel canceled the visit of an expected delegation to Washington to discuss, among other things, a possible ground operation in Rafah, which the Biden administration opposes, instead advocating targeted measures against leaders of the Hamas.
The American Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin, on Tuesday judged civilian losses "too high" and humanitarian aid "much too low" in the Gaza Strip, when welcoming his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, to the Pentagon, arrived earlier in the American capital.
Also read Ceasefire in Gaza: is the United States changing its policy towards Israel?
Qatar - a mediating country with the United States and Egypt - said on Tuesday that indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a truce in Gaza as well as an exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners were continuing, although the two warring parties blame each other for the lack of progress.
In the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv, hostage families demonstrated late Tuesday to urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reach a deal.