RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli air strikes on two homes in Gaza, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. Secretary-General warned that… There is no safe place in the Rafah, Gaza Strip (AP) – area and that the Israeli attack creates “enormous obstacles” to the distribution of humanitarian aid.
The Israeli military also said on Saturday that its forces arrested hundreds of alleged activists in Gaza over the past week and transferred more than 200 to Israel for further questioning, providing rare details about the case. Controversial policy Mass arrests of Palestinian men. The army said that more than 700 people with alleged ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad have so far been sent to Israeli prisons.
Israel declared war after Hamas militants stormed the border October 7As a result, about 1,200 people were killed and about 240 hostages were taken. more than 20 thousand Palestinians were killed In the war Israel is waging to destroy Hamas, more than 53,000 people have been injured, according to health officials in Gaza, a besieged territory that the armed Islamist group has ruled for 16 years.
Despite increasing international calls for a ceasefire, Israel did so He vowed to keep fighting Until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and all The hostages were freed. The Biden administration has protected Israel in the diplomatic arena. The UN Security Council adopted it on Friday Diluted decision It calls for the immediate acceleration of aid delivery to desperate civilians in Gaza, but not for a ceasefire.
The White House said that Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday about the latest developments.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said, on Saturday evening, that 201 people were martyred during the past 24 hours.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense Department, said Friday's air strikes destroyed two homes, including one in Gaza City, where 76 people from the Mughrabi family were killed, making the attack one of the bloodiest of the war.
Palestinians carry the bodies of the Dhaheer family, who were martyred in the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, during their funeral in Rafah on Friday, December 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatim Ali)
Among the dead were Issam al-Mughrabi, a veteran UNDP employee, his wife and their five children.
“The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target,” said Achim Steiner, head of the agency. “This war must end.”
Later on Friday, a raid destroyed the home of Mohammed Khalifa, a local television journalist, killing him and at least 14 others in the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where the bodies were taken.
Israel blames Hamas for the high number of civilian deaths, pointing to the militants' use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has launched thousands of air strikes since October 7, and has largely refrained from commenting on specific attacks.
The Israeli attack was one of these attacks The most destructive military campaigns in modern historyWhich led to the displacement of approximately 85% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people and the leveling of large areas of the Strip to the ground. Small coastal enclave. According to the report, more than half a million people in Gaza – a quarter of the population – suffer from hunger To report This week from the United Nations and other agencies.
In the southern city of Khan Yunis, men walking through the rubble tried to ward off cats feeding on the unclaimed bodies. One of the men covered a body with a blanket. Another wanted to call an ambulance but had no phone signal.
Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hajari said that the forces are expanding their offensive in northern and southern Gaza, and that the forces are fighting in “complex areas” in Khan Yunis.
The army's statement on the arrests followed previous Palestinian reports of widespread arrests of teenagers and men from homes, shelters and hospitals in northern Gaza where ground forces have imposed tighter control. Some of the released detainees said they were stripped except for their underwear, beaten, and held for several days with minimal water.
Channel 13 in Israel showed new footage of Palestinian men stripped of their underwear and walking in a single row, with soldiers near them. It is not clear when the footage was taken. In response to widespread criticism, the army said that detainees were being stripped naked and examined for weapons. It denied allegations of abuse and said those with no links to militants would be released quickly.
Hamas called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to reveal the location and conditions of hundreds of detainees.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas activists, including about 2,000 in the past three weeks, but has not provided evidence. It says that 144 of its soldiers were killed in the ground attack.
Following the UN decision, it was not immediately clear how and when the aid delivery process would be accelerated. Currently, trucks enter through two crossings – Rafah on the border with Egypt and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel. The United Nations said fewer than 100 trucks entered the crossings on Friday, far below the daily average of 500 before the war.
Israeli officials said that both crossings were closed on Saturday by mutual agreement between Israel, Egypt and the United Nations.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, criticized the Security Council resolution that called for aid to Gaza without suspending hostilities, describing it as “weak” and “insufficient.”
Before the Security Council vote, the United States negotiated the removal of language that would have given the United Nations authority to inspect aid going to Gaza, something Israel says it must continue to do itself to ensure the material does not reach Hamas.
Family and friends of Israeli soldier Lt. Yaakov Elian cry at his grave during his funeral at Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, December 22, 2023. Elian, 20, was killed during the Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, fighting Palestinian militants in the war sparked by an attack Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. (AP Photo/Oded Balilti)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that it is wrong to measure the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation by the number of trucks.
He added: “The real problem is that the way Israel is managing this attack creates enormous obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza.” He said the basic requirements for an effective aid operation were lacking: security, staff who could work safely, logistical capacity, and the resumption of commercial activity.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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