Israeli attacks on two homes killed more than 90 Palestinians, including dozens of members of an extended family, rescuers and health officials said Saturday, following the UN chief’s warning the day before that there is no safe place in Loop and the offensive of Israel creates “massive obstacles” to the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Separately, the Israeli military command said its troops arrested hundreds of suspected militants from Hamas in Loop during the past week and took more than 200 to Israel to interrogate them, in an unusual information about the controversial policy of mass arrests of Palestinian men. The army said more than 700 people allegedly linked to the militias Hamas and andIslamic ihad They have been sent to Israeli prisons.
LOOK: There are more than 20,250 dead and 53,600 injured in the Gaza Strip due to the war
Israel declared war after Hamas militants crossed the border on October 7, They killed more than 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages. More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed and 53,000 wounded in Israel’s war to destroy Hamas, according to health officials in Gaza, a besieged territory ruled by Hamas for 16 years.
Despite international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has vowed to continue the fight until it destroys Hamas and its government in Gaza and free all hostages. The US government has protected Israel in the international arena. On Friday, the UN Security Council passed a watered-down resolution calling for speeding up the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, but not for a ceasefire.
On Friday, The airstrikes destroyed two homes, one in Gaza City and another in the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in the center of the territory.
Gaza City attack killed 76 members of the al-Mughrabi familysaid Mahoud Bassal, spokesman for the Gazan Civil Defense. He gave the names of 16 heads of households within the family and said the dead included women and children.
Among the dead were Issam al-Mughrabi, a veteran employee of the United Nations Development Programas well as his wife and five children.
“The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. “The United Nations and civilians in Gaza are not a target”said Achim Steiner, director of the agency. “This war must end.”
Israel blames Hamas for high civilian casualties because the group uses populated residential areas for military purposes and has tunnels under urban areas. It has carried out thousands of airstrikes since October 7, and has generally avoided commenting on specific bombings, including detailing the target of each strike.
The United States managed to eliminate a stronger demand for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas. Washington abstained from the vote, as did Russia, which wanted the strongest terms. It was the first resolution on the war to advance in the council, after the United States vetoed two previous initiatives calling for humanitarian pauses and a complete ceasefire.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, renewed his long-standing call for a humanitarian ceasefire. He expressed hope that Friday’s resolution would help achieve that, although he said “much more is needed immediately” to end the “nightmare” in which the people of Loop.
In a press conference, he indicated that it was a mistake to measure the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation in Gaza by the number of trucks entering the territory.
“The real problem is that the way in which Israel carrying out this offensive is creating enormous obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid within Loop“, said. He added that there are no requirements for an effective aid operation: security, personnel who can work safely, logistical capacity and especially trucks, and the resumption of commercial activity.
The Israeli ground and air offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history. It has displaced almost 85% of the 2.3 million inhabitants of Loop and devastated large areas of the small coastal enclave. More than half a million Gazans — a quarter of the population — are suffering from famine, according to a report published this week by the United Nations and other agencies.
Supported by the Biden government, Israel has so far resisted international pressure to reduce the campaign. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman, said Friday that forces were expanding the ground offensive “to additional areas of the strip, with emphasis on the south.”
Operations were also continuing in the northern half, he noted, also in Gaza City, which was the initial objective of the ground operation. The military said it had carried out airstrikes against Hamas fighters in several locations in Gaza City.
Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, strongly criticized the organization for not condemning the Hamas attack on October 7. The United States vetoed a resolution in October that contained a condemnation because it did not include Israel’s right to self-defense.
Hamas said in a statement that the United Nations resolution would have demanded an immediate halt to the Israeli offensive and blamed the United States for pushing “to empty the resolution of its essence” before Friday’s vote in the Security Council.
