The Israeli army has escalated its air strikes on the Gaza Strip for the fifth consecutive day, killing 1,055 Palestinians and injuring 5,184 others, while the Palestinian resistance has fired rockets at various Israeli targets, killing 1,200 Israelis. The UN has reported that nine of its staff members have been killed in Gaza since Saturday, when Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in response to the Israeli attacks on the Palestinians.
The Israeli army has also targeted Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, claiming to retaliate for the firing of two missiles from there toward Israel. Hezbollah has accused the US of being a partner in Israeli aggression and said that sending aircraft carriers to the region will not intimidate the resistance factions.
In Gaza, the power plant has stopped working due to a lack of fuel, leaving the entire besieged strip without electricity. The government media office in Gaza has appealed to the international community and its humanitarian organizations to act quickly to stop what it called a crime against humanity.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had bombed Ben Gurion Airport with missiles in response to the targeting of civilians. Flight data confirmed that planes were unable to land at the airport after the missile strikes from Gaza. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority announced the suspension of flights departing from the airport after the attack.
Hamas urged the Arab and Islamic nations and the international community to pressure the occupation to open the crossings and allow the Gaza Strip to receive its needs.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that three paramedics lost their lives in northern Gaza after an Israeli attack directly hit an ambulance.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warned that medical supplies in all Gaza hospitals were running low, amid the Israeli assaults on health facilities and medical teams.
In addition, Enas Abu Khalaf, the head of the regional office of Doctors Without Borders, said that there was no safe place in the Gaza Strip. She said in media statements that medical teams faced difficulties in moving freely in Gaza, and noted that the siege on the Strip was worsening with the Israeli raids. She confirmed that there was displacement and destruction of homes in various Palestinian areas.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the World Food Program, also called for opening humanitarian corridors to deliver aid and facilitate the entry of food supplies into the Gaza Strip. She expressed grave concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank and said that the food stocks in the program’s warehouses in the Gaza Strip would run out within two or three days.
On the other hand, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, reiterated his salute to the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their attachment to their land. He called on the Arab and Islamic governments “to take a unified stance against the inhumane Western evasion of supporting the Zionist entity. History will not forgive those who fail to stand by the Palestinian people.”
The Grand Imam added: “The killing, sabotage, and terrorism carried out by the Zionist entity is a stain that history records with shame and disgrace on the foreheads of the Zionists and their backers. Western media coverage is biased and hostile towards Palestine and its people… These are lies that expose the hypocrisy of the freedoms that the West claims to protect.”
British and American media spread false claims of the resistance killing Israeli children, which were denied by the Israeli army itself.
In a statement, Hamas said that the Palestinian resistance did not target children, and urged Western media to be accurate and impartial. Hamas stated that the resistance and its military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, were avoiding civilians and only targeting the “Zionist military system” in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
