At least 52 people dead or missing as a consequence of Israeli strikes on the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office (GMO).
The GMO said 38 bodies arrived at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, while 14 people are still missing under the rubble of houses and buildings. The Palestinian Civil Defence, an emergency group operating in Gaza, claimed several people remained under heavy rubble after Israeli strikes in the Al-Tuffah area, which is east of Gaza City. The deaths came a day after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said at least 25 people died in strikes on tent camps and 50 injured near the southern city of Rafah.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Saturday that IDF fighter jets struck Hamas military infrastructure near Gaza City, but did not specify where exactly the strikes took place. Israel stressed on Saturday it remained active in the central and southern Gaza Strip and continued its incursion into Rafah.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 12-year-old Palestinian boy died of his wounds after gunned down by the Israeli military in Ramallah last week, according to POLITICO. Commenting on the shooting, the Israeli army said its forces raided the al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah on Friday to arrest a suspect and then opened fire on a group of Palestinians who were pelting them with stones.
Israel has also found itself in an incident involving the behaviour of its soldiers after a video surfaced online showing Israeli military personnel in a vehicle carrying an injured Palestinian man on the bonnet of a car in the northern West Bank. The army said it was investigating the case and the behaviour in the video was “not in line with the values” of the army.
Protesters in Tel Aviv oppose the government
On a weekly basis there are major protests in the Israeli city over Netanyahu’s actions in the nearly nine-month war in the Gaza Strip. Yesterday was marked by tens of thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans against the Prime Minister’s government as they gathered to demand new elections and a solution to the hostage crisis.
Anti-government protest organisation Hofshi Israel estimated that more than 150,000 people took part in the rally, calling it the largest since the start of the Gaza war. Scores of people are frustrated with the country’s right-wing coalition, which includes Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and other far-right ultranationalists, accusing it of extending the war in Gaza and jeopardising the country’s security and hostages.
Many protesters held placards reading “Crime Minister” and “Stop the War.” Other demonstrators lay on the ground covered in red paint in the city’s Democracy Square to protest what they said was the death of democracy in the country under Netanyahu. Relatives and supporters of Israelis taken hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on 7 October launch light flares during a protest calling for their release.
The government, for its part, refuses to negotiate with Hamas, assuring that the war will only end with the complete destruction of Hamas, which would involve a heavy offensive. Despite, on Saturday, the IDF said it had scattered leaflets “throughout the Gaza Strip as part of the ongoing intelligence efforts to return the hostages.”
Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip following Hamas attacks on 7 October that killed some 1,200 people. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the total number of deaths in the Gaza Strip since 7 October now totals 37,551, of which 85,911 injured.
