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On the 157th day of the war on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians began fasting the month of Ramadan, with the continued Israeli bombing and massacres, the battles intensifying, and hunger worsening throughout the Strip, without any signs of an end to the war in sight.
While United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for respect for the month of Ramadan and a ceasefire in Gaza, the White House said that efforts to reach a temporary ceasefire are continuing.
In the West Bank, the occupation forces strengthened their security measures on the first day of Ramadan, and imposed restrictions on Jerusalem residents.
On the Lebanese front, Hezbollah launched attacks on Israeli forces positions, including an air and missile defense headquarters in the Golan.
In Yemen, the Houthi group announced that its positions in Hodeidah Governorate were subjected to 13 American and British raids.
Gaza battles
The Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that they are engaged in fierce clashes with heavy and medium weapons in all areas of the incursion.
Al Jazeera obtained pictures of Al-Qassam Brigades fighters sniping an Israeli soldier south of the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City.
On the other hand, the Israeli army said that a unit belonging to the commando division continues its fighting in Hamad Town in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, and continues to launch raids and combing operations, during which they found combat means and eliminated dozens of militants.
The Israeli army also published pictures of a fight in a residential building between its soldiers and the Palestinian resistance.
The Israeli army also said that it was continuing its attacks in the Al-Qarara area, east of Khan Yunis, and announced that a force from the Givati Brigade had been fired upon by an anti-tank missile.
New massacres
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the Israeli occupation committed 7 massacres in the Strip, killing 67 martyrs and 106 injured during the past 24 hours.
The Ministry reported that the number of victims of the Israeli aggression had risen to 31,122 martyrs and 72,760 injured since the seventh of last October, and explained that 72% of the victims of the Israeli aggression were children and women.
She said that a number of victims are still "under the rubble and on the roads, and the occupation is preventing ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them."
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Risk of famine
The director of government information in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Al-Thawabta, said that the humanitarian situation in the Strip has exceeded catastrophic.
Al-Thawabta held the Israeli occupation and the American administration responsible for what he called war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against children and women since October 7, 2023.
For his part, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, north of Gaza, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, told Al Jazeera that three other children were martyred due to malnutrition.
He warned that there are eleven other children in intensive care in the hospital due to malnutrition, who may meet the same fate, unless they are provided with appropriate food and treatment.
Biden: There will be no military operation in Rafah unless there is a plan for civilian security (Reuters)
Rafah operation
The White House said President Joe Biden made clear that “there is no military operation in Rafah unless there is a plan for the security of civilians there.”
The White House added, "We have not yet seen implementable plans for the security and safety of more than a million civilians in Rafah," noting the US administration's efforts to achieve a temporary ceasefire in Gaza that "provides the basis for sustainable peace, alleviation of suffering, and the return of hostages."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has agreements and differences with the United States regarding basic goals and how to achieve them, indicating that he is in agreement with Biden regarding the necessity of destroying Hamas.
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Aid file
The US Central Command (Centcom) announced on Monday that it had carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid in the northern Gaza Strip, while the Jordanian army, for its part, announced the implementation of 7 airdrops of relief aid in the northern Gaza Strip, with the participation of Egypt, the United States, France and Belgium.
Meanwhile, the Spanish ship "Open Arms" is still anchored in the Cypriot port of Larnaca, after it was scheduled to depart yesterday, Sunday, on the first voyage to transport aid to the Gaza Strip, but technical difficulties postponed that, according to a source close to its organizers.
The ship carries tens of tons of food, within a sea corridor that the President of the European Commission announced its activation during her visits to the port a few days ago.
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West Bank
In the West Bank, the Israeli occupation forces assassinated a Palestinian, and intensified their raids into a number of Palestinian cities and towns.
An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that several people were injured during the Israeli occupation forces carrying out an assassination operation inside a commercial store in the town of Attil, north of Tulkarm in the West Bank. The occupation army said that forces from the Duvdevan unit and the General Security Service (Shin Bet) killed a Palestinian in the village of Zeta in Tulkarm who was planning what it called an “operation.” "Terrorist."
Settlers also stormed the village of “Jinba” in “Masafer Yatta,” south of Hebron in the West Bank, and attacked farmers and sheep herders.
The attackers raided the village under the pretext of missing some sheep and tried to steal the farmers’ livestock, according to what residents of the area reported to Al Jazeera.
Residents called the Israeli police, but it did not prevent the settlers from continuing their attacks, according to residents’ testimonies.
In Jerusalem, the Islamic Endowments Department said that 35,000 worshipers performed the evening and Tarawih prayers on the first day of Ramadan in Al-Aqsa Mosque amid Israeli security measures.
Previous Israeli bombing of a town in southern Lebanon (Getty)
Lebanese Front
On the Lebanese front, Hezbollah announced - today, Monday - the killing of one of its members in border confrontations with the occupation forces in southern Lebanon, and said that it had carried out seven operations against Israeli forces in the Galilee and the occupied Golan.
In a brief statement, the party mourned Ali Muhammad Zein Bilal, born in 1991 from the town of Sohmar in the Western Bekaa, bringing the party’s death toll to 240 since the eighth of last October.
The party confirmed that its forces targeted the air and missile defense headquarters in the Kaila barracks with 4 marches, and announced that it hit the targets accurately, according to its description.
The party also said that it targeted with missiles gatherings of Israeli soldiers at the Al-Marj site, the vicinity of the Al-Raheb site, at Al-Tihat Hill, and the Jal Al-Alam site in the Western Galilee, confirming that direct hits were achieved.
Hezbollah fighters bombed the Al-Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kafr Shuba and achieved a direct hit.
On the other hand, the Israeli army fired missiles from the Iron Dome system to confront missiles launched from southern Lebanon at several areas in the Upper Galilee.
Israeli Army Radio said that at least one missile was intercepted in Ma'alot-Tarshiha in the Western Galilee, launched from southern Lebanon.
Al Jazeera's correspondent also reported that an Israeli raid was launched on the town of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, and the vicinity of several Lebanese border towns was subjected to Israeli artillery shelling.
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In a related context, the Islamic Group in Lebanon mourned two of its leaders, which it said were martyred in southern Lebanon.
Al-Fajr Forces, the military wing of the group, said yesterday that three of its leaders were martyred while performing their jihadist duty, as it put it.
Missiles fired by the US-led coalition intercepted Houthi marches during a previous attack (Reuters)
Red Sea axis
On the Red Sea axis, media outlets affiliated with Ansar Allah al-Houthis said that an American-British aggression targeted, with 13 raids, the Ras Issa area in the Al-Salif District, and the Al-Arj area in the Bajil District, Hodeidah Governorate.
Before that, the British Maritime Trade Operations Authority said on Monday that it had received a report of an attack targeting a cargo ship 71 nautical miles southwest of Saleef, Yemen.
The authority added that the ship's captain reported the sound of an explosion in its vicinity and confirmed the safety of it and its crew.
In turn, Embry Maritime Security Company confirmed that it was informed of an incident related to a missile west of the Yemeni city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast.
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Guterres called for a truce in the Israeli aggression on Gaza at the beginning of the month of Ramadan (Reuters)
Guterres' statements
In New York, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a truce in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip at the beginning of the month of Ramadan.
"Today marks the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, a time when Muslims around the world celebrate and spread the values of peace, reconciliation and solidarity, but even with the beginning of Ramadan, killing, bombing and massacre continue in Gaza," Guterres said.
He added, "My strong call today is to adhere to the spirit of the month of Ramadan by silencing the weapons and removing all obstacles so that the introduction of life-saving humanitarian aid becomes possible at the necessary pace and scale."
He added, "At the same time, and in the spirit of mercy of the month of Ramadan, I call for the immediate release of all hostages."
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Source: Al Jazeera + agencies