The occupation committed 10 massacres in the Gaza Strip within 24 hours, killing 104 martyrs (Anatolia)
166 days after the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, international calls rose for a ceasefire and to accelerate the entry of aid, while Hamas leader Osama Hamdan announced that the Israeli occupation had provided a negative response to the movement’s proposal regarding ceasefire negotiations and the exchange of prisoners.
The leader of the movement said, during a press conference on Wednesday, that “Hamas is following the path of negotiations through the mediator brothers in Egypt and Qatar,” stressing that the movement presented a comprehensive vision that achieves the aspirations of the Palestinian people.
He revealed that the occupation had withdrawn from the approvals it had previously provided to the mediators, "in an attempt to procrastinate further, which may lead the negotiations to a dead end."
Blinken tour
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken returned to the Middle East on Wednesday for his sixth visit since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, in order to reach an agreement to secure a temporary cessation of fighting and the release of Israeli detainees.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken will discuss in Jeddah and Cairo the mediation efforts being conducted by Qatar and Egypt, as well as the efforts made to deliver more aid to Gaza.
International positions
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and European officials called for a ceasefire in Gaza and to allow the largest amount of aid to enter the stricken sector.
Guterres called for "every effort to be made to stop the killing in Gaza and to ensure the unconditional release of the hostages," stressing that "nothing justifies the collective punishment practiced by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza."
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide also called for a halt to the fighting to allow more aid to be delivered to Gaza.
In this context, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union Political Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell stressed the need for aid to enter the sector.
Qassam operations
On the ground, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced that it had targeted an Israeli "Zionist" troop carrier with an "Al-Yassin 105" missile in the Al-Qarara area, north of the city of Khan Yunis.
The Brigades also announced that its fighters blew up a tunnel opening in an Israeli occupation force, “leaving it dead and wounded” in the Al-Qarara area, north of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.
On the other hand, the Israeli occupation army announced that 9 soldiers were injured in the battles in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, indicating that 291 soldiers are still undergoing treatment after being injured in the battles in the Strip, 26 of whom have serious wounds.
Continuing massacres
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the occupation committed 10 massacres in the Strip within 24 hours, killing 104 martyrs and 162 injured.
The Ministry reported that the death toll from the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip had risen to 31,923 martyrs and 74,96 wounded since last October 7.
The Government Information Office in Gaza also reported that more than 100 aid workers were martyred in 8 massacres committed by the occupation in a week.
He said that the occupation's massacres against aid workers aim to perpetuate the policy of starvation and spread chaos and insecurity in the Strip.
Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the occupation forces assassinated the director of the Emergency Committee in western Gaza, Amjad Hatahat, by targeting him at the Kuwait Roundabout while securing aid yesterday, Tuesday.
Al Jazeera's correspondent also said that 23 Palestinians were martyred in a bombing by the occupation forces that targeted tribal committees ensuring the distribution of aid at the Kuwait Square in Gaza.
West Bank
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that three Palestinians were martyred and a fourth was seriously injured as a result of a bombing that targeted a car in the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
For its part, the Israeli occupation army said that it carried out a raid on elements it described as “terrorist” in Jenin.
On the other hand, the Jenin Brigade of the Al-Quds Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement - mourned what it described as the "Shin Bet Hunter", Ziad Farhan Hamran, who carried out the Etzion operation in the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem in the West Bank, yesterday, Tuesday.
Targeting UNRWA
The New York Times quoted the Commissioner of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as fearing that halting the agency’s funding would lead to “profound effects on its services in Gaza, especially education.”
The newspaper also quoted sources that stopping funding for UNRWA will be part of the spending bill negotiated by American lawmakers.
Meanwhile, an Al Jazeera correspondent said that an Israeli bombing targeted the Salah al-Din School affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, noting that there were violent Israeli raids on the Al-Rimal neighborhood in central Gaza City.
The position of the clans
Hamas said that the occupation's targeting of the popular and tribal committees that secure the distribution of aid is evidence of its goal to spread chaos and security chaos.
The National Gathering of Palestinian Tribes had confirmed that the occupation was trying to spread chaos by targeting the Palestinian police and the People’s Protection Committees.
The group affirmed its stand “behind our national police and the protection committees supporting it in the Gaza Strip,” stressing that it will remain a support for the people, the government, and the resistance in the face of the absurd attempts of the occupation and its henchmen.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies