18 thousand dead as a result of the Israeli attacks on Gaza

Today (Monday) the Gaza Strip is witnessing bloody Israeli air strikes and violent battles, while the Hamas movement confirmed yesterday (Sunday) that the release of the hostages will only take place through negotiations and an exchange of prisoners.

In terms of field operations, the Islamic Jihad movement announced fierce fighting in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, noting that it had blown up a house in which Israeli soldiers were trying to find an opening leading to an underground tunnel.

Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip witnessed violent air strikes at night, and new strikes this morning (Monday) targeted the center and east of the city, where thousands of civilians took refuge after fleeing the fighting in the north.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that “dozens” had been killed, especially in Khan Yunis, Gaza City, the Jabalia camp (north), and the Nuseirat and al-Maghazi camps (centre), while dozens of victims were still under the rubble. 32 bodies were transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis within 24 hours, according to the ministry.

After reporting on Sunday “violent fighting” in neighborhoods in the cities of Gaza and Khan Yunis, the Israeli army confirmed, on Monday, the firing of rockets from Gaza. Today (Monday), Israeli police announced that missile fragments had fallen in Holon, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, speaking of “material damage and a civilian being slightly injured,” according to Agence France-Presse.

Yesterday (Sunday), Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy confirmed: “I do not want to say that we are using our full force; But we are using great force and achieving important results.”

There will be no exchange of prisoners except through negotiations

The war broke out after an attack carried out by the Hamas movement on October 7 on southern Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths, most of them civilians, the majority of whom died on the first day, according to the Israeli authorities. Also, about 240 people were kidnapped and transferred to the Gaza Strip. 137 of them are still detained.

Israel began a ground operation in the Strip on October 27. A week-long truce at the end of November allowed for the release of 105 hostages from Gaza, including 80 Israelis, in exchange for Israel releasing 240 Palestinian prisoners. Those released from both sides were women and children.

Yesterday (Sunday), Hamas warned that no hostage would leave the Gaza Strip “alive” if its demands were not met through negotiations and a prisoner exchange. Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said in an audio message: “Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership nor its supporters can take their prisoners alive without exchanging, negotiating, and abiding by the terms of the resistance and Al-Qassam.”

“No place is safe”

In the Gaza Strip, residents are forced to live in an increasingly crowded area, where the health system is “collapsing,” according to the World Health Organization, and the death toll continues to rise.

According to the latest toll published by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the Israeli bombing led to the death of 17,997 people, about 70 percent of whom were women and children.

In Gaza, bombing turns entire neighborhoods into rubble, and residents desperately try to escape the clashes to the south.

The war displaced 1.9 million people, or 85 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population, according to the United Nations.

The Israeli army asked civilians in Gaza to go to “safe areas” to avoid battles. However, the residents of the Gaza Strip and many international organizations confirm that there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli bombing is targeting its various areas.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in the Palestinian Territories, Lynn Hastings, whose visa was not renewed in Israel, said: “A unilateral declaration by an occupying force that lands without infrastructure, food, water or health care (…) is… “Safe areas” does not mean that they are.

Camps crowded with displaced people

Thousands of Gazans are fleeing in any way they can, in cars or trucks, sometimes by vehicles, or on foot.

Abu Muhammad told Agence France-Presse on his way to Rafah: “We move from one area to another, and there is no safe place.” Rafah has turned into a huge camp for displaced people. Hundreds of tents were hastily erected using wood and plastic sheets.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that tens of thousands of displaced people who have arrived in Rafah since December 3 “face catastrophic conditions in densely populated places inside and outside shelters.”

He added: “Crowds wait for hours around aid distribution centers, and people are in dire need of food, water, shelter, care and protection,” while “the absence of latrines increases the risk of the spread of diseases,” especially when rain causes floods.

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the health system in Gaza is exhausted. The organization adopted a resolution calling for immediate humanitarian aid to the besieged sector.

The supplies of food, medicine and fuel reaching the Strip are still largely insufficient, according to the United Nations, and cannot be transported outside Rafah.