Israel is set to halt airdrops over Gaza City and reduce the entry of relief trucks ahead of a major offensive, a source told CNN, as the Red Cross warned that Israeli plans for mass evacuation were “impossible.”
The Israeli military is preparing to fully capture Gaza’s biggest city after nearly two years of war, despite growing opposition at home and warnings that the campaign will have disastrous and unbearable consequences for Palestinians in the besieged region.
In Tel Aviv, crowds of protesters demanded that the government pursue a ceasefire rather than escalate its offensive. Families of hostages being held in Gaza blasted the Israeli government for its failure to consider the latest ceasefire proposal, which Hamas accepted nearly two weeks ago.
The Israeli military has carried out heavy bombing and ground attacks on Gaza City in recent days, eyewitnesses and Palestinian authorities say, choking vital services and leaving hundreds of thousands of people crammed into an ever-shrinking area.
At least 47 people were killed in Gaza City on Saturday, according to Gaza hospital figures.
An Israeli strike on Al-Nasr Street in the west of the city killed at least 15 Palestinians, including six children, local health officials said.
CNN footage from the courtyard of a hospital showed a row of dead children shrouded in floral blankets. Family members mourn over their small, lifeless bodies, including a toddler wearing a grey onesie with a dinosaur print.
“I don’t know what happened,” one man told CNN. “These children are the beloved of God. What was their sin?”
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
Another Israeli attack on a building housing displaced Palestinians in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City killed at least seven people, according to Gaza Civil Defense on Saturday.
Video from the scene soon after the attack showed numerous children wandering dazed, covered in blood and dust. One person lies in the street, his head cracked open in a pool of blood, while a boy is carried away on an improvised stretcher.
The Israeli military told CNN in a statement that the attack targeted a “key Hamas terrorist” and claimed that numerous mitigation techniques were employed to reduce harm to civilians.
On Friday, the military declared Gaza City a “dangerous combat zone” ahead of the planned assault, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says will target what he calls one of Hamas’ ”remaining strongholds.”
This week Israeli drones circled over several areas in and around the city to drop leaflets, according to Gaza City residents, telling people to evacuate to south of Wadi Gaza, which bisects the Strip.
But the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has denounced the move.
“It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement, warning that starving, disabled and injured Palestinians were incapable of moving.
“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” added Spoljaric.
‘Sabotage of the hostage deal’
Hamas accepted a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire two weeks ago, but Netanyahu has refused to consider it. The proposal calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages, as well as 18 deceased hostages. In exchange, Israel would release a number of Palestinian prisoners.
According to a source familiar with the planning, the security cabinet will not discuss the proposal at the meeting on Sunday. The security cabinet also failed to discuss the proposal at its meeting last week.
“If it looks like sabotage, if it sounds like sabotage – it’s probably deliberate sabotage of the hostage deal,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
One hostage’s mother warned that if Netanyahu decides to conquer Gaza City and ignore the current ceasefire proposal on the table, he will be “spilling the blood of Israeli citizens.”
Speaking at the weekly anti-war protest, Einav Zangkauer vowed to ensure that Netanyahu is “charged with premeditated murder” if her son, Matan, is not returned alive from Gaza.
“Netanyahu, if Matan comes back in a bag, not only will Matan and I pay the price, but I will personally make sure you are charged with premeditated murder,” Einav Zangkauer said on Saturday.
Zangauker has become one of Netanyahu’s fiercest and most vocal critics, lambasting him publicly for not accepting ceasefire deals that she says could have brought about Matan’s release from Hamas captivity.
Residents in Gaza City ‘terrorized 24 hours a day’
More than one million people are displaced in the central and western parts of Gaza City alone, a municipality spokesperson said on Saturday, warning that conditions are already “dire.”
“We expect a sharp increase in the number of casualties if the occupation expands its military operation,” said Asem Alnabih. “We are facing a total collapse of service, as the occupation continues to prevent the entry of fuel and the machinery we need.”
A senior UN official warned this week that residents inside Gaza City – who face physical exhaustion, hunger, malnourishment and fatigue – are also under the constant shadow of bombing, weakening their ability to make life or death decisions.
“These people are facing death. Yet, they are now facing the threat of an invasion,” Sam Rose, the acting director of affairs for the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza told CNN. “They’re being terrorized 24 hours a day.”
The Israeli military has announced plans to stop 10-hour “tactical pauses” in hostilities, which began a month ago after severe aid restrictions, siege and bombing wrought deadly starvation in the enclave.
Further aid restrictions will likely only worsen Palestinians’ plight. Nearly 700 days of war have brought “man-made” famine to parts of Gaza, the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Phase Classification reported last week. Israel has rejected the IPC’s findings and called on the body to retract its report.
One young woman displaced with her family in Tal al-Hawa, western Gaza City – including six siblings aged three to 18 – told CNN she has lost 16 kilograms (35 pounds) since the hostilities began.
“The international community watches this genocide and famine, and does nothing,” Raghad Ezzat Hamouda, a Palestinian student, said.
“We are human beings. Our children are dying of hunger in front of the cameras,” added Hamouda. “Your silence is killing us. We need action, not just words.”
In the past 24 hours, a further 10 people died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza bringing the total to at least 332 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, the health ministry reported on Saturday. Of those who died, 124 were children, the ministry added.
Israeli strikes in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks have killed 63,371 Palestinians and injured another 159,835 people, according to the Ministry of Health in the enclave.
Source: CNN
–Agencies
