The death toll from a shooting near a humanitarian aid distribution center in Rafah, in southern Gaza, has risen to 31, of whom 21 died before reaching the hospital, and more than 179 Palestinians were wounded. The Israeli army has denied responsibility for the attack, but the Palestinian authorities are reiterating the claim.
“The killings,” writes the Gaza government via Al Jazeera, “reflect the nature of these areas as mass death traps, not humanitarian relief points. What is happening is a systematic and malicious use of aid as a weapon of war, employed to blackmail starving civilians and forcibly gather them in exposed death traps managed by the occupying army, financed and politically covered by the US administration, which bears moral and legal responsibility for these crimes.”
Among other things, on Saturday evening, the IDF announced that it had killed Muhammad Sinwar, one of the leaders of Hamas and brother of the former leader killed last year. Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who is believed to control the northern Gaza Strip, and Khalil al-Hayya, currently in exile, remain alive and are the next two on Defense Minister Israel Katz’s list of “targets to be taken down.”
Despite international appeals, the devastating humanitarian situation, and Palestinians reduced to starvation, the IDF continues unabated under orders from the Israeli government. Katz said: “I have ordered the army to continue advancing in Gaza against all targets, regardless of any negotiations, and to use all necessary means to protect soldiers and to eliminate and crush the Hamas murderers. Either Hamas releases the hostages or it will be destroyed.”
However, the negotiations Katz refers to seem to have reached a stalemate. In recent days, Israel had accepted the agreement proposed by Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, which provided for a temporary 60-day truce, the release of ten hostages, and the handover of 18 bodies by Hamas in exchange for the release of 305 Palestinian prisoners. “After reviewing the proposal” and ensuring that it “responds to the demands of our people,” Hamas leaders relaunched a plan that includes the release of 125 live prisoners, 1,111 prisoners, and 180 Palestinian bodies, as well as the distribution of humanitarian aid, a permanent ceasefire, and the total withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza. Witkoff called the draft “unacceptable” and said it “only forces us to back down.”
Delegations from Qatar and Egypt, two other mediators alongside the United States, are pushing to reopen dialogue, but there are no signs of the opposing parties being willing to meet as of this writing.
