Israel has continued striking Gaza on Wednesday as Gazans mark Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Wednesday as Muslims marked the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Palestinians gathered for morning prayers on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday amid the ruins of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than six months of war since Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
Tens of thousands also flocked to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, where one worshipper, nurse Rawan Abd, said, “It’s the saddest Eid ever… You could see the sadness on people’s faces.”
Israeli forces kept up combat operations and air strikes on Gaza a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that “no force in the world” would stop Israeli troops from entering Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah.
‘Famine-like Conditions’
Another 14 people were killed — including small children — in a strike on a home in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, the local health ministry said.
The Army said on Wednesday that “Israeli troops are continuing to operate in the central Gaza Strip and have killed a number of terrorists over the past day.”
It added that an aircraft had “struck dozens of terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including military sites, launchers, tunnel shafts, and infrastructure.”
Humanitarian groups have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, where UN experts say half the population is facing “catastrophic” food insecurity.
Biden, voicing his growing frustration with hawkish Netanyahu, issued some of his sternest criticism yet of the war.
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Washington’s recent tougher line with Israel, its main ally in the region, has brought some results, according to the US Agency for International Development.
However, Samantha Power, head of USAID, stressed that Israel needs to do more, saying that “we have famine-like conditions in Gaza and supermarkets are filled with food within a few kilometers away” in southern Israel.
Washington has also resumed funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after cutting it weeks ago after Israel claimed that some UNRWA staff took part in the October 7 attack.
According to Al-Jazeera, the Israeli Army is setting up a new border crossing to avoid blocking by Israeli protestors at Erez-Beit Hanoun.
‘It Will Be Punished’
Hamas has said it is studying the latest proposal for a truce. However, Hamas has so far also publicly insisted on a full withdrawal of Israeli ground forces and a permanent ceasefire — demands that Israel has outright rejected.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that Israel had to “take some steps forward,” while Hamas’ public statements had been “less than encouraging.”
Regional tensions have surged amid the Gaza war, and Israel was widely blamed for an April 1 strike on arch foe Iran’s consulate in Damascus that killed seven Revolutionary Guards.
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Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Israel that “the evil regime made a mistake in this regard. It must be punished and will be punished.”
Belal Al-Sabbagh and Fiachra Gibbons, with AFP
