The Gaza Strip remains mired in a catastrophic humanitarian situation for another day, the day after heavy Israeli airstrikes and the US veto of a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Almost 1.5 million Palestinians, according to the UN, or more than half the population of the enclave (2.4 million), have overwhelmed Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that an attack will soon be launched on Rafah, according to him the “last stronghold” of Hamas, where aerial bombardments are already taking place daily, and that the operation will continue “until total victory” and until everyone is freed the Israeli hostages.
The prospect of an attack on Rafah is worrying much of the international community as hopes of a ceasefire are fading.
The head of Hamas’s political office, Ismail Haniya, based in Qatar, arrived in Cairo for new talks on a possible truce with Egyptian officials.
At the same time, the US exercised its right of veto in the United Nations Security Council to prevent the adoption of a decision that called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.
Israel’s main ally, Washington, said that approving the decision would jeopardize negotiations to secure a “cease” in operations in exchange for the release of more hostages in the hands of Hamas.
Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour criticized the “dangerous” US decision. Hamas has seen a “green light” in Israel to continue to commit massacres.
At least 15 people were killed overnight Tuesday when “Israeli shelling” hit “a house in Deir al-Bala”, in the central part of the enclave, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s health ministry.
Earlier, an AFP journalist found shelling taking place in Khan Younis, a few kilometers from Rafah, where the Israeli army is engaged in fighting with Hamas rebels in the rubble.
The non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières, MSF) expresses concern about the situation at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. He points out that medical staff and patients have been trapped there since a raid by Israeli special forces on February 15. He called for their “urgent and safe removal”.
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