On the 63rd day of the war between Hamas and Israel, the Israeli military continues its advance in southern Gaza. At the UN, the Security Council struggles to reach an agreement on a ceasefire.
The Israeli army is pressing its offensive in Gaza, particularly in Khan Younès (south), where ground combat is taking place, and in Gaza City (north), where tanks are advancing in the old city, according to AFP journalists and witnesses on the ground.
The army, conducting airstrikes in other areas, including Deir el-Balah (center), reported hitting “over 450 targets” in the past 24 hours.
Hamas’s Ministry of Interior reported “dozens of martyrs and wounded.” Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer was killed in an Israeli airstrike, as announced by his relatives last night.
“Collective Punishment”
The UN Secretary-General declared on Friday that the violence by Hamas in no way justifies the “collective punishment” of Palestinians. He is putting pressure on the Security Council to decide on his call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”
Foreign ministers from several Arab countries have called for Security Council approval of the resolution, but the United States, Israel’s ally, has already rejected calls for an “immediate ceasefire.”
“Those who have survived the bombings now face an imminent risk of dying from hunger and disease”: Save the Children and other international NGOs are sounding the alarm about the “apocalyptic” situation in Gaza.
The UN Security Council’s inaction to date makes it “complicit in the massacre” in Gaza, denounced Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a statement.
Failed Hostage Liberation Operation
The Israeli military admitted on Friday the failure of an operation to free hostages in Gaza, in which two soldiers were severely injured, and according to the Palestinian Hamas movement, one hostage died.
Six Palestinians Killed in the West Bank
Israeli forces killed six Palestinians on Friday, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health, in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian territory experiencing an escalation of violence since the beginning of the war.
