Gazans sheltered Monday from intense bombing and capturing within the metropolis of Khan Yunis, as strain constructed on Israel for an eventual two-state resolution involving statehood lengthy sought by Palestinians.
Witnesses reported lethal strikes and fierce preventing between Israeli troopers and Hamas militants in a single day within the southern metropolis which has turn into the most recent epicentre of the conflict.
The well being ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported on Monday that greater than 120 folks had been killed within the earlier 24 hours.
“Artillery shelling has not stopped since 5:00 am,” mentioned Yunis Abdel Razek, 52, sheltering along with his household on the metropolis’s Al-Aqsa College.
Mahdi Antar, 21, had sought refuge at Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.
“The state of affairs is terrifying. Tonight and immediately are very tough, bombing and capturing. I have no idea what to do. I believe they are going to storm the hospital,” he mentioned.
Victims of the most recent Israeli strikes have been dropped at the hospital, a minimum of one on a hand-pulled cart.
The Palestinian Pink Crescent mentioned Israeli forces have been “besieging” their ambulance centre “and concentrating on anybody trying to maneuver within the space”.
At one constructing that had been hit, males walked over damaged concrete with solely torches casting a dusty mild to assist them search within the darkness for survivors.
The strikes got here as European Union overseas ministers held conferences in Brussels with high diplomats from the warring sides and key Arab states.
– Condemnation, defiance –
The 27 EU ministers first met Israel’s International Minister Israel Katz earlier than sitting down individually with the Palestinian Authority’s high diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.
EU overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell advised Israel “peace and stability can’t be constructed solely by navy means”.
“That are the opposite options they bear in mind? To make all of the Palestinians depart? To kill off them?” Borrell mentioned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and defied america, which gives Israel with billions of {dollars} in navy support, by rejecting requires a Palestinian state.
Maliki demanded the EU name for an instantaneous ceasefire and urged the bloc to contemplate sanctions in opposition to Netanyahu for “destroying the probabilities for a two-state resolution”.
Jordan’s International Minister Ayman Safadi mentioned “the entire world” sees a two-state resolution as “the one manner out of this distress”.
Katz advised reporters he was in Brussels to debate the necessity “to deliver again our hostages and restore safety for the residents of Israel”.
The talks got here a day after Hamas issued a 16-page report, in Arabic and English, explaining the background to the October 7 assaults in opposition to southern Israel which sparked the conflict.
It referred to as the assaults a “defensive act” and “needed step” in opposition to Israeli occupation, “reclaiming the Palestinian rights and on the best way for liberation and independence like all peoples”.
The assaults resulted within the deaths of about 1,140 folks in southern Israel, largely civilians, in response to an AFP tally primarily based on official Israeli figures.
In response, Israel has carried out a relentless offensive that has killed a minimum of 25,295 folks in Gaza, round 70 p.c of them ladies, younger kids and adolescents, in response to the most recent toll issued Monday by Gaza’s well being ministry.
– Parliamentary committee stormed –
US intelligence businesses have estimated that the Israeli marketing campaign has killed “round 20 p.c to 30 p.c” of Hamas fighters and remains to be removed from its purpose of destroying the Islamist motion, the Wall Road Journal reported on Sunday.
In a video assertion issued after the Hamas report, Netanyahu mentioned “our troopers have fallen in useless” and safety wouldn’t be assured if Israel accepted Hamas’s calls for for the discharge of hostages.
These included ending the conflict, withdrawing Israeli forces from Gaza, releasing Palestinian prisoners and guaranteeing that Hamas would keep in energy, he mentioned.
Netanyahu is beneath intense strain to return the captives and account for safety failings surrounding the October 7 assaults.
Hamas militants seized about 250 hostages and Israel says round 132 stay in Gaza. This consists of the our bodies of a minimum of 28 lifeless hostages, in response to an AFP tally primarily based on Israeli knowledge.
Kinfolk and supporters of the captives have held common rallies and on Monday upped their strain by storming a parliamentary finance committee assembly, the place they shouted and brandished indicators.
In a bid to safe a brand new hostage trade deal, US media mentioned america coordinator for the Center East, Brett McGurk, was because of meet high officers in Cairo on Monday, adopted by a visit to Qatar.
The three international locations helped dealer a one-week truce in late November that noticed 80 hostages freed in trade for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Rising tensions and violence throughout the Center East — involving Iran-backed teams in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen — have stoked fears of a wider conflagration.
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