Israel continues its offensive … Cumulative deaths since October 7: 22,600
‘Exit to war’ Diplomatic war heats up… US and EU diplomatic leaders visit Israel
Israel, which is involved in a war to eliminate the Palestinian armed faction Hamas, continued its attacks on the Gaza Strip on the 5th (local time) despite the efforts of the international community to find a way out of the war.
With the war that began with Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7 last year approaching three full months away, the United Nations made a grim assessment that the Gaza Strip had become uninhabitable.
Amid heightened concerns about the spread of war beyond the Gaza Strip and into the Middle East, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell visited the Middle East and continued with diplomatic efforts to find a way out of the war. ◇ Israel, leads in the offensive… “Terrorists who attacked over 100 targets overnight were eliminated.”
According to AFP, AP, and Reuters, the Israeli army said it had attacked more than 100 targets, including military areas, rocket launch sites, and weapons depots, over the past 24 hours.
The Israeli military explained that fighter jets bombed Bureiji, central Gaza, to eliminate an armed terrorist group that was trying to attack its own tanks, and that it killed many Palestinian militants after fighting in southern Khan Yunis, which became is a fierce battlefield.
The Israeli army also said they had discovered a tunnel under the Blue Beach Hotel in northern Gaza that was “used by terrorists as a place to plan and execute attacks.”
Residents of the Gaza Strip also reported that Israeli military planes and tanks intensified their offensive against the central areas of Al-Magazi, Bureiji, and Nuseyrat.
The health ministry of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said there had been 162 deaths in the past 24 hours.
The Gaza Ministry of Health does not separate the number of civilian and militant casualties.
Israel announced that the number of soldiers eliminated after the war was 8,000.
On October 7 last year, a surprise attack by Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages.
During the temporary truce that lasted for a week from November 24 of the same year, some of the hostages were returned in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, but 24 were killed and 132 were taken into custody.
As pressure from the international community for a cease-fire due to the growing number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip increased, Israel formalized the de-escalation of the war in Gaza by announcing a tactical shift to detailed searches and special operations, but in reality, it continues to strike in different parts of the Gaza Strip. ◇ 22,600 people died, suffering as refugees… Gaza’s humanitarian disaster continues
The death toll in Gaza since the war began is 22,600.
Two thirds of them are women and children.
About 1% of Gaza’s population of 2.2 million people have died, and 85% are refugees.
According to the United Nations, the number of buildings and structures that have been destroyed or damaged is more than 37,000.
Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, said in a statement that day, “Gaza has become an uninhabitable place,” and “the people of Gaza witness existential threats every day while that the whole world is watching. .”
Residents of the Gaza Strip continue to live a miserable life as refugees, suffering from water, food, medicine shortages, and disease in poor conditions.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that there are 71,000 cases of diarrhea in infants and children under the age of five.
Before the war, there were around 2,000 cases a month.
AFP reported that many families were seen arriving in Rafah, the border with Egypt, on this day as well.
They moved in overcrowded vehicles or on foot, sometimes pulling carts.
Adnan Abu Hasna of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said, “Khan Younis used to be a city of 250,000 people, but now there are 1.3 million people here,” raising concerns about excessive population density.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said shooting and drone attacks continue against Al-Amal Hospital, which it operates in Khan Younis.
At Al-Amal Hospital, seven refugees, including a 5-day-old baby, were killed in airstrikes over the past few days. ◇ ‘We must find a solution to war’… Blinken, Borrell visit Middle East
The international community’s efforts to find a way out continue amid the three-month war and more tensions in the Middle East.
Secretary Blinken, who went to the Middle East for the fourth time in three months since the start of the war, arrived in Turkiye on the 5th and will then visit Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) , Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
Secretary Blinken plans to focus on post-war plans for the Gaza Strip during his trip to the Middle East, a senior State Department official who accompanied the trip told Bloomberg News.
This official explained that Secretary Blinken intends to discuss what the United States and Israel need to gain support from the Gulf countries regarding the future of the Gaza Strip, including governance and reconstruction after the end of the war.
Earlier, on the 4th, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented a post-war plan that would allow Palestinians to take over the governance of the Gaza Strip after the end of the war under the supervision of a multinational organization centered on the United States, while n maintain Israel’s security and military executive authority.
Although this is the first time a high-level Israeli government official has presented a post-war plan, there are said to be clear differences of opinion within and outside the Israeli cabinet.
The current situation in the Middle East is extremely tense, extending beyond the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, Lebanon, and even the Red Sea.
This region has been mired in turmoil as Hamas’s third-in-command, Deputy Political Director Saleh al-Arouri, was recently killed in an airstrike in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, pro-Iranian militant group, continues to attack in the Red Sea.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller emphasized, “It is in nobody’s interest, not in the interest of Israel, not the Middle East, or the world, to allow this war to spread beyond Gaza.”
High Representative Borrell, head of EU diplomacy, will also visit Lebanon from this day to the 7th.
The EU said in a statement that High Representative Borrell “will reiterate the need to promote diplomatic efforts with regional leaders.” /happy news
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