Hunger torments people in the Gaza Strip, there is hardly any humanitarian aid Returned hostages: “Every day is hell” ++ Israel: 7,000 Hamas terrorists killed

Given the increasingly catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip, pressure is growing on Israel to show more attention to the civilian population in the fight against the Islamist Hamas. The Israeli army spread reports of success. “We are getting closer to Hamas command centers,” said Israeli National Security Advisor Zachi Hanegbi. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated the goal of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages. To this end, the war will continue “with greater intensity.”

However, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a new ceasefire during a special meeting of the WHO Executive Board in Geneva on Sunday. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) emphasized that it could hardly provide humanitarian aid to the population. And German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned of the consequences. “We are dramatically seeing not only the suffering, but the hunger fueling further terrorism,” she said in Dubai. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk, she called on Arab states to convince Hamas to lay down its arms.

The war was sparked by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 in Israel near the Gaza Strip border. More than 1,200 people were killed. According to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, 17,700 people have now been killed as a result of subsequent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

OCHA: Area of ​​the European Gaza Hospital under attack

Targets near the European Gaza Hospital and the Al-Amal Hospital in the south of the coastal strip have been repeatedly shelled, according to information from the UN emergency agency OCHA. As a result, dozens of injured people were unable to reach emergency rooms, OCHA reported on Sunday. The two hospitals, like other hospitals, are completely overcrowded. According to estimates by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), 85 percent of the once approximately 2.2 million inhabitants had to flee their homes because they were damaged or destroyed or because Israel called for the evacuation of areas . because of the fighting.

Palestinians: more than 30 killed in airstrike on buildings

At least 31 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the Jabalia refugee district, northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian information. The Israeli military initially made no comment. Meanwhile, the Hamas-controlled health authority said that since Saturday evening, 45 bodies of those killed in Israeli attacks have been taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central part of the Gaza Strip.

Now also Israeli artillery units in the Gaza Strip

The Israeli army announced on Sunday that for the first time since the start of the war more than two months ago, artillery troops have also been deployed in the Gaza Strip in addition to tank and ground troops. So far, the artillery force has been deployed from the border line. More than twenty targets were attacked during operations in the Shejaiya area. This concerns weapons depots, booby-trapped houses and infrastructure of the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas.

The military has been publishing videos and photos of the risky urban war against Hamas on Telegram for days. In the sometimes narrow streets of cities in the Gaza Strip, there is hand-to-hand fighting from door to door with submachine guns, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades. Entrances to Hamas tunnels in schools or homes, as well as extensive weapons finds are repeatedly shown. There were even reports of weapons being hidden in stuffed animals. The information could not initially be independently verified.

Hamas leader Sinwar has not yet been arrested

The Israelis have not yet managed to track down the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jihia Sinwar. Shortly after the start of the war, he is said to have left in an aid convoy south of the closed coastal strip, Israeli newspapers reported based on information from the KAN broadcaster. The Israeli army is giving the public the impression that Hamas is on the verge of collapse. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that surrendering terrorists said the fighters were in a “difficult situation” and that the Hamas leadership under Sinwar was “denying the reality.” None of this information can be independently verified.

On Sunday evening, a video from the northern Gaza Strip circulated online, showing a suspected Hamas fighter, according to the Times of Israel. The man comes from a line of other men who, like him, wear only their underwear, walks past a tank with his weapon raised and places it in front of an Israeli soldier. The scene shows the men surrendering to Israeli forces, the report said. However, her identity could not initially be independently verified. Israeli units have moved very close to Hamas command centers in Jabalia and Shejaiya, Hanegbi said. 7,000 Hamas terrorists have already been killed. A total defeat of Hamas would also pave the way for the liberation of 138 hostages from Islamist violence.

However, extremist Palestinians continued their rocket attacks on Israeli border towns on Sunday.

Elections in Egypt overshadowed by war

The war in Gaza is also overshadowing Egypt’s presidential elections, which started on Sunday. It is expected that the incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will win the elections again. There are concerns in Egypt that the Sinai Peninsula, which is part of the country and borders Gaza, could become the starting point for new attacks on Israel if residents of the coastal strip flee there because of the war. At the same time, the government in Cairo fears that a mass exodus could turn into permanent displacement. (sda/dpa)