The Israeli occupation forces have escalated their attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip for the fourth consecutive day. The occupation aircraft have bombed several populated areas in Gaza, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds more. The occupation has also imposed a total blockade on Gaza and cut off water, electricity, and fuel supplies.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance factions have continued to launch rockets at Israeli settlements and cities, from Tel Aviv to the Negev, as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
The operation was launched on Saturday by Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in response to the ongoing assaults by the occupation forces against the Palestinians.
Hamas said on Tuesday that it targeted “occupied Beersheba” in retaliation for the bombing of civilians in Gaza. Resistance rockets also hit the greater Tel Aviv area and Ben Gurion Airport, triggering sirens.
The death toll among Israelis has exceeded 1000, while the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that 788 Palestinians have been martyred and 4,100 wounded.
In a statement, Abu Ubaida, the military spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, warned the residents of Ashkelon to evacuate before five pm on Tuesday, in response to the Israeli army’s displacement of some residents of Gaza and forcing them to flee their homes. Hamas fired several volleys of rockets toward Ashkelon, setting off sirens.
The head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, said: “The Israeli enemy will pay a heavy price for its crimes and terrorism.” Haniyeh said in a statement on Tuesday that Hamas informed the parties it contacted regarding “enemy prisoners” that this file would not be opened until the end of the battle, noting that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was a Palestinian decision and implementation.
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli army released a new list of its dead, which included 38 more soldiers and officers killed since the start of the clashes with the Palestinian resistance, bringing the total number to 124.
The occupation army announced the killing of the deputy commander of the 300th Brigade during an infiltration attempt from Lebanon claimed by the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, during which an exchange of fire took place that resulted in the death of 3 members of Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said that imposing a siege on Gaza constitutes “collective punishment and a war crime.”
However, the occupation army aircraft bombed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza three times for the second day in a row, and Israeli Channel 12 reported that Israel threatened Egypt to strike any trucks carrying aid trying to enter Gaza from Rafah.
In response to Richard Hackett, spokesperson for the occupation army, who urged Palestinians to flee to Sinai through the Rafah crossing to escape the Israeli aggression, an Egyptian security source told Daily News Egypt that the occupation forces aim to liquidate the Palestinian issue, which is facing the most dangerous turn in its history.
The source said that there is a clear plan to serve the occupation’s goals by emptying Palestinian lands of their owners and forcing them to leave by giving them the choice between death under Israeli bombing or displacement outside their lands. The source warned of the consequences of the current crisis on the principles of the Palestinian issue and Palestinian rights and said that there are some parties and forces that serve the occupation plan and pave the way for it with justifications based on fait accompli to endorse historically and politically corrupt propositions.
The Egyptian security source pointed out that the occupation has tried to put forward such proposals throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict by settling the people of Gaza in Sinai, which Egypt has rejected and will continue to reject, and affirmed the Palestinian popular consensus that adheres to its right and land.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said on Tuesday that Egypt is intensifying its contacts at all levels to stop the current round of military confrontations, spare the blood of the Palestinian people, and protect civilians on both sides. Al-Sisi reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution, stressing that Egypt would not allow the issue to be settled at the expense of other parties.
While the besieged Palestinians did not receive support from any party, the United States announced that the Ford aircraft carrier would arrive in its operating area near Israel later on Tuesday, and the American administration expressed its absolute support for the Israeli government. The European Union also immediately stopped all forms of financial support to the Palestinians, expressing its support for the Israeli maneuvers.
