When did help come to the people of Gaza – and how? The Israeli army wants to participate in the organization of the planned temporary port in Gaza. The news at a glance.
The Israeli army has agreed to coordinate with US forces the construction of a temporary shipping pier on the Mediterranean coast of the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian aid could then reach Gaza by sea after appropriate inspection by Israel, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference. International organizations would then take over the distribution of the relief supplies. Regardless, the war against the Islamist Hamas will continue until its military capabilities are destroyed, he added.
The US government announced on Thursday that it would set up a temporary port to bring food, water and medicine to the war zone in view of the humanitarian emergency in Gaza. It will take around 60 days until this is operational, said a spokesman for the US Department of Defense.
The humanitarian situation of the people in Gaza has been deteriorating dramatically for weeks. UN officials recently warned of thousands of civilians starving to death in the Gaza Strip. The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military: Dozens of Hamas fighters killed
The Israeli military says it has killed dozens of Islamist Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. In the southern city of Khan Yunis, Israeli troops eliminated 20 Hamas militants in hand-to-hand combat and air strikes, the army said. During targeted operations, the enemy’s military facilities were destroyed and an unspecified number of fighters were captured. According to the statement, Israeli troops killed at least ten Hamas terrorists in the central Gaza Strip.
The information cannot be independently verified. According to Palestinian sources, Israeli fighter jets bombed a high-rise building in Rafah, the southernmost town in the sealed-off coastal strip, overnight. The residents had received warnings in advance and were not in the building in the center of the city that was destroyed, it said. Nevertheless, an unspecified number of civilians were injured in the attack on the Al-Masri Tower, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing local sources.
The Israeli military confirmed the attack on the high-rise building. According to the Times of Israel, it housed a Hamas planning cell. The terrorist organization was preparing attacks on Israeli soldiers and rocket attacks on Israel there.
As a result of the war, 82 Palestinians have died in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-controlled health authority said. 122 other people suffered injuries. The number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7th has risen to 30,960 and the number of injured to 72,524. This information could not be independently verified either.
The numbers collected in hospitals do not distinguish between civilians and armed fighters. 70 percent of the victims are said to be women, minors and old men. The Gaza war was triggered by an unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel. In the attack they killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Habeck admonishes Israel
The background to the distress in the Gaza Strip is massive bombings and a ground offensive by Israel in the coastal area. The military is reacting to the worst massacre in Israel’s history, in which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups murdered around 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 in Israel on October 7th. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military offensive so far, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The information makes no distinction between civilians and armed fighters. However, a large majority of the victims are women, minors and old men.
Israel must change its approach in the Gaza Strip, said Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) in New York after a conversation with UN Secretary General António Guterres. “That doesn’t mean they don’t have to fight Hamas. But the number of civilian casualties is too high and the strategy needs to change.” The other Berlin cabinet members would also see the situation that way, he added.
Humanitarian organizations are calling for an immediate ceasefire to provide relief to the bombed-out and suffering civilian population. Indirect talks about a ceasefire and the release of the Israeli hostages from Hamas were interrupted on Thursday without any result. They should continue at the beginning of the week. The United States, which is mediating in the negotiations along with Egypt and Qatar, blames Hamas’s intransigent stance for the lack of an agreement.
Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida reiterated the Islamists’ position. “Our highest priority in achieving a prisoner exchange is a binding commitment that the aggression against our people will end and the enemy will withdraw,” he said in a video message carried by the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing published on their Telegram channel. The mediator’s proposal accepted by Israel, however, calls for a six-week ceasefire and the start of the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Only during this ceasefire should negotiations begin on steps that will lead to a permanent cessation of fighting. Israel has so far shown no willingness to move away from this step-by-step plan.
Before Ramadan, Hamas spokesman pours fuel on the fire
The fasting month of Ramadan, a particularly holy period for Muslims all over the world, is expected to begin on Sunday. Islamist and militant movements such as Hamas attribute special significance to Ramadan in jihad, the so-called holy war. Against the backdrop of the Gaza war, this raises fears of an increase in violent conflicts in Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida alluded to this in his video message when he called on the Palestinian population to march to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount during the month of fasting. “May the blessed month of Ramadan (…) become the maximum tidal wave on the streets and fronts inside and outside Palestine,” he said. Hamas calls the attack on Israel on October 7th the “Al-Aqsa tidal wave.”
Palestinian militants gave a foretaste of this when they attacked an illegal settler outpost near the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday. They fired around 30 shots at an Israeli army post guarding the settlement of Homesh, the Kan broadcaster reported. As the soldiers pursued the attackers, the militants detonated an explosive device. Three soldiers suffered moderate injuries and four others suffered minor injuries, the army said. Homesch is considered illegal even under Israeli law, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is making intensive efforts to legalize this and other outposts at the instigation of its right-wing extremist coalition partners.
Sweden wants to pay again to the UN Palestinian relief agency
The Swedish government wants to provide financial support to the UN Palestinian Relief Agency again. The government in Stockholm announced that a payment of 200 million crowns (around 17.7 million euros) had been decided. The decision was made in view of the acute humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and against the background of new agreements.
The UN relief agency UNRWA came under heavy criticism. Some employees were accused of being involved in the Islamist Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th. UN Secretary-General António Guterres had promised a comprehensive investigation into the allegations. The collaboration with several employees was terminated.
Several Western countries temporarily suspended payments to UNRWA because of the allegations, including the two largest donors, the United States and Germany. Sweden is now also switching to Canada. “The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is devastating and the needs are acute,” said International Development Cooperation Minister Johan Forssell.
The Swedish government announced that the aid organization had agreed to strengthen internal supervision, allow independent auditing and enable additional controls on the workforce. Further disbursements would be made this year if UNRWA makes progress on agreed points.