The fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues unabated. The situation for civilians is becoming increasingly dire. A German family is also suspected to be among the many dead in Gaza. The overview.
In the heavily bombed and embattled Gaza Strip, the plight of the Palestinian civilian population is getting worse. According to aid organizations, the supply of people is on the verge of collapse. The desperation is great because there is not only a lack of food, but also a lack of space. Refuge rooms are overcrowded, said the deputy director of the World Food Program (WFP), Carl Skau.
Criticism is increasingly directed at the USA, which, as Israel’s most important ally, vetoed a draft resolution for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the UN Security Council despite the devastating situation in the Gaza Strip.
The US supports humanitarian ceasefires, but not a permanent ceasefire at this time. From the perspective of the government in Washington, this would play into the hands of the Islamist Hamas and enable it to reposition itself for further attacks on Israel.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with Gaza. As a result, more than 1,200 people were killed on the Israeli side, including at least 850 civilians. According to the latest figures from the Hamas-controlled health authority, almost 17,490 people have now been killed in Israel’s counterattacks. The number cannot currently be independently verified.
Reports of heavy fighting in the south of the Gaza Strip
Israeli ground troops are currently deployed in the north and south of the Gaza Strip and are supported by the air force. There are reports of heavy fighting in Khan Yunis in the south. The place is considered a stronghold of the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas. There are also many civilians in the south who fled there after Israel’s ground offensive began.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, 133 more people were killed in Israeli attacks within 24 hours. In addition to the dead, around 260 injured people were also taken to hospitals, the authorities announced. Most of the attacks took place in the central and southern parts of the coastal strip. The information cannot be independently verified.
WFP: People are starving
WFP Deputy Director Skau described the situation in the Gaza Strip as “untenable” after a visit to the area. “We need our relief supplies and a humanitarian ceasefire,” he wrote on the X platform. Half of the population is hungry, he told the US broadcaster CNN. You can see the fear in the children’s eyes, you can almost smell it. People wouldn’t know where to go. “There are people everywhere. The emergency shelters are overcrowded, people are camping on the streets.” The toilets are in a corresponding condition. In addition, every day in the background there was the dull thunder of the bombing raids, said Skau.
Humanitarian work is also on the verge of collapse. Since only a fraction of the necessary food reaches the coastal area sealed off by Israel, there is a lack of fuel and no one is safe, “we cannot do our work,” the WFP said in a statement.
The federal government assumes that the German family was killed in Gaza
According to the federal government, German citizens were also killed in the Gaza war. “Unfortunately, we have to assume at this point that there is a German family among the victims of the fighting in Gaza,” said the Foreign Office in Berlin in response to a request. No further information was provided. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, citing information from relatives, reported that a German family of six was killed in an Israeli bomb attack in their home in Gaza on October 25th.
Hostage declared dead in Gaza Strip
According to information from the hostage families, a 25-year-old Israeli was murdered while held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The forum of the hostage families and the town of Kibbutz Beeri, from which the young man came, announced this. The student was kidnapped by terrorists from the border town into the Gaza Strip on October 7th. His grandmother and brother were murdered in the Hamas massacre.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a video on Friday. It initially showed the 25-year-old alive. At the end you can see a bloody corpse. The Qassam Brigades claimed he was killed during an Israeli liberation attempt. The Israeli army announced on Friday that two soldiers were seriously injured during an operation to rescue hostages – but that no hostages could be saved.
Again sharp criticism of Guterres from Israel
In Israel, there was again sharp criticism of UN Secretary-General António Guterres because he had urged the UN Security Council to support a humanitarian ceasefire. Opposition leader Jair Lapid accused Guterres of anti-Semitism.
Gaza war overshadows election in Egypt
The Gaza war is also overshadowing the presidential election in Egypt that begins this Sunday. The country, which is struggling with a severe economic crisis, has strengthened security barriers on the border with the Gaza Strip. Egypt is concerned that large flows of refugees could come from the area via the Rafah border crossing, through which aid supplies reach Gaza.
As the portal Axios reported, citing government officials in Israel and the United States, Egypt has warned the United States and Israel that the flight of Palestinian refugees to Sinai as a result of the Israeli military operation in southern Gaza could lead to a rupture in relations between Egypt and Israel . President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is expected to be re-elected, previously warned his country could become a new war front.