Israel increases shelling while opening the direct humanitarian entry into Gaza for the first time

For the first time in its more than two-month-old conflict with Hamas, Israel opened a direct humanitarian border into Gaza on Sunday. However, it simultaneously increased its airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave, claiming that military pressure was the only way to rescue its captives.

Residents and militants said that along the whole coastal strip, there was intense combat throughout the Israeli attacks. Communications were cut off for a fourth day, making it difficult to assist the injured.

The news that Israel’s intelligence head had talked with Qatar’s prime minister on Friday, who arranged hostage releases in exchange for a week-long truce and the release of Palestinian inmates, increased hopes for peace on Saturday.

A fresh truce and the release of hostages were acceptable to Israel and Hamas, according to two security sources from Egypt, another mediator, on Sunday. However, there were still differences over the specifics of the implementation.

“Any attempts to put a stop to Israel’s aggressiveness are welcome. When questioned about the Egyptian remark, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said, “This is the basis for any conversation.”

In a second encouraging development, authorities said that on Sunday, the Kerem Shalom gate between Israel and Gaza opened to assistance vehicles for the first time since the start of the conflict, doubling the quantity of food and medication that is sent to Gazans.

However, the Israeli government said that they would not back down from their campaign to destroy Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2006 and is committed to destroying Israel.

“The Israeli Defence Forces, through their spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, feel compelled to finish the mission of dismantling Hamas,” he told reporters in Tel Aviv.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, seemed to be open to talks the day before, but he also pledged to keep up strong military pressure.

DEATHLY BLOCKS
Ninety Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, a spokeswoman for the Gaza health ministry told Reuters. Israeli reaction was nonexistent from the outset.

24 persons were murdered in another rocket strike on the Shehab family’s home, according to Hamas Aqsa radio.

(REUTERS) A representative for Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, confirmed to Reuters that one of the deceased was the son of organization spokesperson Dawoud Shehab.

Numerous individuals had been killed or injured in the Shehab family house and surrounding structures, according to a physician.

“We believe the number of dead people under the rubble is huge but there is no way to remove the rubble and recover them because of the intensity of Israeli fire,” he said via telephone.

Twelve Palestinians were reported dead and scores injured in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, according to doctors, while an Israeli airstrike on a home in Rafah, in the south, claimed the lives of at least four individuals.

To save those buried under the debris, people raced to the structure. Mahmoud Jarbou, a local, told Reuters that the explosion sounded “as powerful as an earthquake”.

Israel claimed to have conducted operations against extremist targets.

According to Gaza health officials, since October 7, when Hamas terrorists carried out a surprise attack that resulted in the killing of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 240 captives, almost 19,000 Palestinians have died.

Losses in Israel
Netanyahu is under further pressure to obtain the release of the remaining captives after Israeli soldiers mistakenly killed three of them on Friday. However, Hamas has said that it would not discuss any exchange “unless the aggression against our people stops once and for all.”

On Sunday, hundreds of people came to the burial of Alon Shamriz, a 26-year-old who was one of the three, in central Israel.

Dikla, his mother, stood over his coffin covered in a flag to show her respect.

“You were brilliant, powerful, and driven, my kid. You really were a hero. You made it through 70 days in hell. I’m sure you felt us constantly, just as we felt you. She continued, “You would have been in my arms in another moment,” as her loved ones sobbed.

Before the three were killed, they had been hiding in a building in Gaza, and signs saying “S.O.S.” and “help, three hostages” were discovered on the walls, according to Israel’s military.

It had originally said that since the ground battle started on October 27, when tanks and infantry started to advance into Gaza’s towns and camps for refugees, 121 troops had died.

During his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu read aloud a letter he said was written by the families of fallen soldiers.

It is your mission to fight. He cited them as stating, “You do not have an order to stop in the middle,” to which they replied, “We will fight to the very end.”

The death toll is now almost twice as high as it was in 2014 during a ground invasion.

In Shejaia, a neighborhood of Gaza City, the Israeli military said that its forces had destroyed a weapons storage facility in the residence of a Hamas operative, as well as discovered munitions and a tunnel used by militants to assault soldiers.

Islamic Jihad’s armed branch said that its soldiers used mortar bombs to strike Israeli troops in Gaza City, while locals reported that Israeli tanks blasted towns in central Gaza, where violence has escalated recently.

Residents of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, claimed to have heard rocket-propelled grenades launched by Hamas, as well as Israeli tanks and aircraft bombing and shelling the area.

A 13-year-old girl was killed after an Israeli tank shell struck the maternity wing of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to health authorities. According to Ashraf Al-Qidea, a spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry, the shell broke through the wall but did not detonate, as reported by Reuters. Israeli reaction was nonexistent from the outset.

Following an airstrike on Khan Younis, the Israeli military claimed to have killed seven terrorists and discovered three underground shafts and components for rocket production close to a school that was being used as a refuge.

Israel claims it takes extreme precautions to avoid colliding with people.