GAZA STRIP, PALESTINE (AFP): Overnight airstrikes devastated the Gaza Strip as discussions for a truce between Israel and Hamas were set to resume in Cairo on Sunday, according to Egyptian state television.
Intense clashes continued in the besieged Palestinian territory, including near several hospitals, in the ongoing conflict that began nearly six months ago.
Amid the deepening humanitarian crisis due to Israel’s siege, an aid delivery in Gaza turned chaotic and deadly on Saturday, with reports of Israel opening fire and a stampede.
According to a Red Crescent paramedic, at least five people were killed.
Witnesses reported gunfire, which caused panicked truck drivers to speed off and hit several individuals.
To help alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s 2.4 million people, another aid ship was sailing from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus to bring 400 tons of food relief as part of a small flotilla.
Foreign powers have increased aid airdrops, although U.N. agencies and charities warn this falls short of the dire need. Several people have died in stampedes or drowned trying to retrieve packages from the sea.
At least 75 people were killed overnight in new Israeli bombardment and ground attacks, most of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
The fighting has continued unabated despite a U.N. Security Council resolution last Monday that demanded an “immediate cease-fire” and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
Tensions have escalated over the civilian death toll between Israel and its chief backer, the United States, particularly over Israeli threats to push ground forces into Gaza’s crowded far-southern city of Rafah.
Washington has approved billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets for Israel in recent days, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed officials.
Mass protests in Tel Aviv
The conflict escalated with Hamas’ Oct. 7 incursion, resulting in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, and capturing 250 hostages.
Israel’s retaliation has been a campaign of indiscriminate bombings, killing at least 32,705 people, mostly women and children, and causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Under intense pressure to secure the hostages’ release, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a new round of cease-fire talks to take place in Doha and Cairo.
Egyptian TV station Al-Qahera, close to the country’s intelligence services, said the talks would resume in Cairo on Sunday.
An anchor said on Saturday, “An Egyptian security source confirmed to Al-Qahera News the resumption of negotiations on a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Egyptian capital, Cairo tomorrow.”
Netanyahu faces pressure from the hostages’ relatives and supporters, including at mass rallies Saturday night in Tel Aviv where police used water cannon against protesters who lit fires and blocked highways.
One of the demonstrators and former hostage, Raz Ben Ami, demanded that negotiators strike a deal to win their freedom.
“Prime minister, on behalf of the hostage men and women, on behalf of the people of Israel, give the negotiators in Qatar the order: Do not return without a deal.”
Israeli attacks on hospitals
In Gaza, vast areas reduced to rubble saw heavy fighting around several hospitals.
Although attacking hospitals is a war crime, Israel attempts to justify the attacks by accusing Hamas of hiding inside and in tunnels beneath medical facilities and of using patients and medical staff as cover, claims that have previously been proved false.
The Israeli army said Saturday it had “continued to eliminate” Hamas members around the largest hospital, Al-Shifa in Gaza City, with around 200 reported killed after 13 days of fighting.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 107 patients remained inside Al-Shifa, including 30 with disabilities, and that the Israelis had stopped attempts to evacuate them.
Israeli military attacks were also ongoing at two hospitals in the southern city of Khan Yunis – at Nasser Hospital, according to the Hamas government press office, and at Al-Amal Hospital, according to the Red Crescent.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Gaza now has just 10 “minimally functioning” hospitals, down from 36 before Israel’s attacks.
Its chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said 9,000 patients need to leave Gaza for “lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions.”
