The attack was aimed at Hamas’ number two, but there are also many civilian casualties. A UN representative speaks of terrible impressions. Calls for a ceasefire are again being made.
After an Israeli air strike on the Hamas military chief that left numerous people dead, UN representative Scott Anderson pointed to the suffering of Palestinian civilians and the distress in hospitals. The director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Gaza spoke of some of the most horrific scenes he had seen in the past nine months.
In the Chan Junis hospital he visited, there were not enough beds and many patients were being treated on the floor and without adequate disinfection facilities, Anderson said. “The air was full of the smell of blood.”
Desperate parents have told him they have moved to the humanitarian zone in the hope that their children will be safe there, Anderson said. He called for civilians to be protected at all times. A ceasefire is urgently needed and the hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip must be released.
Airstrike targeted Hamas military chief
The Israeli army attacked the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing dozens of other people. It remained unclear whether Deif was also killed or injured in the airstrike.
On Sunday, the Israeli military confirmed that the commander of Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade, Rafa Salama, was killed in the attack. He was considered a close associate of Deif, who was said to have been at his side at the time of the attack. The army did not comment on the fate of the Hamas military chief on Sunday.
A Hamas representative in Beirut denied on Sunday that Deif had been killed. “Mohammed Deif is fine and continues to command the resistance against the Israeli enemy,” Hamas official Ali Barakeh told the German Press Agency in Beirut.
Deif is the head of the Qassam Brigades and deputy to Hamas’ Gaza chief Jihia al-Sinwar. Israel has set the goal of capturing or killing Sinwar and Deif in the Gaza war.
Deif is often called the “Phantom”. The Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” described him as a “walking ghost” who survived at least seven Israeli attacks. The 58-year-old is considered one of Israel’s most wanted terrorists. He has been fighting in the ranks of Hamas since the 1990s. Until about six months ago, it was assumed in Israel that Deif had lost several limbs and had a number of physical disabilities. Until finally, pictures emerged showing Deif with both arms and both legs.
Negotiations to continue despite air strike
According to Palestinian sources, at least 90 people were killed in the Israeli military operation. At least 300 other people were injured in the humanitarian zone of Al-Mawasi, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. This information could not initially be independently verified.
A representative of the political wing of the Islamist Hamas denied reports that indirect negotiations with Israel on a ceasefire and the release of hostages were being broken off. It was not true that Hamas had made such a decision after the Israeli air strike, he said in a statement on the Hamas channel on Telegram.
According to Israeli media reports, the head of Israel’s foreign intelligence service Mossad, Daniel Barnea, plans to travel to the Qatari capital Doha in the coming days for another round of hostage talks.
The negotiations, which have been ongoing for months, are about exchanging the remaining hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, as well as a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the delivery of humanitarian aid. The indirect talks are progressing slowly. Israel has so far rejected Hamas’s demand for a permanent ceasefire.
Three injured in terrorist attack
Three people were injured, some seriously, in a suspected terrorist attack near the Israeli city of Ramla. According to police and emergency services, the perpetrator drove a car into a group of pedestrians at a bus stop. The stop is located at an intersection very close to a barracks. A police spokesman said the driver of the car, who was from East Jerusalem, had been “neutralized” – although it remained unclear whether he was killed or injured.
According to media reports, border police in Hebron in the West Bank arrested a 37-year-old Palestinian woman who had been found with a knife in her bag. She is suspected of planning a knife attack. According to reports, after her arrest she stated that her husband was being held in an Israeli prison as a member of the Islamist Hamas group.
More demonstrations for hostage deal in Israel
Thousands of people demonstrated again in Israel on Saturday evening. They called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring home the approximately 120 hostages still held by Hamas. “We demand that you stop sabotaging the agreement, we demand that you sign the agreement,” the mother of one of the hostages was quoted as saying by Israeli media.
Israel responds to Hezbollah shelling
The Israeli Air Force attacked positions of the militia in southern Lebanon on Saturday after they were shelled by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah. The Israeli army announced that the facility was bombed, from which missiles had previously been fired at northern Israel.
Statement UN representative
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
