ShareKHANYUNIS, Palestinian Territories: Hamas said on Thursday Zionist entity strikes on Gaza have killed almost 50 of the hostages its militants seized in bloody cross-border attacks as the United Nations warned “nowhere is safe” in the territory.
The group’s armedwing made the claim after Zionist entity sent tanks, troops and armoredbulldozers into the enclave in a “targeted raid” overnight that the militarysaid destroyed multiple sites before withdrawing. “(Ezzedine) Al-QassamBrigades estimates that the number of Zionist prisoners who were killed in theGaza Strip as a result of Zionist strikes and massacres has reached almost 50,”the group said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
On the 20th dayof Zionist entity’s bloodiest Gaza war yet, the UN humanitarian coordinator forthe Palestinian territories, Lynne Hastings, said that despite the Zionistentity military issuing warnings to people in Gaza City to leave, “advancewarnings make no difference”.
She said in astatement that when evacuation routes are bombed, “people are left with nothingbut impossible choices. Nowhere is safe in Gaza.” The army said overnight itsforces hit “numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missilelaunch posts”.
Black smokebillowed into the sky after a blast in the grainy night-vision footage theZionist entity military released hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahudeclared preparations for a ground war were under way. The operation innorthern Gaza came in “preparation for the next stages of combat”, the militarysaid. The black-and-white video showed armored vehicles moving near Gaza’sborder fence. Other footage appeared to show an air strike and buildings beingtargeted. The raid came after Netanyahu delivered a nationally televisedaddress to Zionist entity is still grieving and furious after the October 7attacks, telling them “we are in the midst of a campaign for our existence”.
Internationalalarm has increased amid growing shock about the scale of human sufferinginside the besieged Palestinian territory where Zionist entity has cut off mostwater, food, fuel and other basic supplies. In southern Gaza, a grieving UmmOmar Al-Khaldi told AFP how she saw her neighbors being killed in an Zioniststrike that reduced the house to rubble, with many feared buried beneath.
“We saw themgetting bombarded—the children got bombarded while their mother was huggingthem,” the woman said, desperately pleading for help from the outside world.“Where are the Arabs, where is humanity?” she asked. Amnesty International in astatement called for an immediate ceasefire to ensure “access to life-savingaid for people in Gaza amidst an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.
The human rightsgroup’s chief Agnes Callamard said: “Serious violations of internationalhumanitarian law, including war crimes, by all parties to the conflict continueunabated.”
Surging death toll
The war’s surgingdeath toll is by far the highest since Zionist entity unilaterally withdrewfrom the small coastal territory in 2005 -- a period that has seen fourprevious Gaza wars. Entire neighborhoods have been razed, surgeons areoperating without anaesthetic, and ice-cream trucks have become makeshiftmorgues. In chaotic scenes, volunteers and neighbors have clawed, sometimeswith their bare hands, through shattered concrete and sand to pull out civiliancasualties.
All too oftenthey recover only corpses which have piled up, wrapped in bloodstained whiteshrouds.
In Brussels onThursday, European Union leaders debated calling for “pauses” in the war so aidcan get in. The 27-nation bloc has long been split between more pro-Palestinianmembers such as Ireland and Spain, and staunch backers of Zionist entity includingGermany and Austria.
“What we want isthe killing and the violence to stop so that humanitarian aid can get intoGaza, where innocent Palestinian people are suffering, and also to allow us toget EU citizens out,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said. US President JoeBiden, a strong supporter of Zionist entity , earlier joined the calls for itto “protect innocent civilians” and to follow the “laws of war” as it pursuesHamas.
French PresidentEmmanuel Macron warned Wednesday that “a massive intervention that would putcivilian lives at risk would be an error”. And Jordan’s King Abdullah II saidanger at the suffering could “lead to an explosion” in the Middle East.
About 2,500American troops are stationed in Iraq and some 900 in Syria to help fight remnants of the Islamic State jihadist group. The Pentagon said there were10 attacks on US and allied forces in Iraq and three in Syria between October17 and 24, involving a “mix of one-way attack drones and rockets”. – AFP
