Key Points
- Hamas says Israel’s strike on Maghazi refugee camp has killed 38 and wounded 100.
- Hamas says there are many missing in the camp, with rescue efforts underway.
- Israel drops leaflets urging civilians to leave Gaza City “to preserve your lives”.
The Hamas-run government said on Sunday that Israeli military attacked a Gaza refugee camp on Saturday night, killing at least 38 people, as calls for a ceasefire by the Arab world were rejected by the United States and Israel.
With the death toll in Gaza mounting, pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged protests in cities around the world on Saturday, calling for an end to the nearly month-old war.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ 7 October attack in which more than 1,400 people were killed, according to the Israeli government, and over 200 hostages taken. More than 9,488 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Israel continued to strike Gaza Strip by air, sea, and ground overnight. Gaza health officials said Israeli air strikes destroyed a cluster of houses in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
Salama Marouf, head of the Hamas government media office, told Reuters the Israeli strike in Maghazi killed at least 38 Palestinians and wounded 100. A Palestinian news agency had earlier reported 51 dead.
Marouf said an unknown number of people remained missing and rescue workers were trying to search for them under the rubble of the destroyed houses.
Reuters could not independently verify his account.
An injured girl awaits treatment at the emergency ward of the Al-Shifa hospital following an Israeli strike, in Gaza City. Source: Getty / Bashar Taleb/AFP
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel says it is targeting Hamas, not civilians, and that the militant group is using residents as human shields.
Foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman on Saturday and pushed for Washington to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
“This war is just going to produce more pain for Palestinians, for Israelis, and this is going to push us all again into the abyss of hatred and dehumanisation,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said at a press conference with Blinken. “So that needs to stop.”
However, the top US diplomat dismissed the idea of a ceasefire, saying it would only benefit Hamas, allowing the Islamist Palestinian group to regroup and attack again.
Washington had proposed localised pauses in fighting to allow in humanitarian aid and for people to leave the densely populated Gaza Strip. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected this when he met Blinken on Friday in Tel Aviv.
Blinken is to visit Turkey on Monday for talks on the conflict, continuing his second trip to the region since the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict reignited.
Speaking in Shanghai, Mohammad Mokhber, Iran’s first vice president, called Israeli actions “a war crime”, adding, “we need to end this immediately and provide more humanitarian assistance to Gaza”.
Israel’s assault and siege have stirred global alarm at humanitarian conditions in the narrow coastal enclave.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged protests on Saturday in cities including Melbourne, London, Berlin, Paris, Istanbul, Jakarta and Washington, demanding a ceasefire.
Pro-Palestinian supporters gather in Jakarta, Indonesia, to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Source: Getty / Anadolu Agency
Tens of thousands gathered in Washington to denounce President Joe Biden’s war policy and demand a ceasefire. Some carried posters reading “Palestinian Lives Matter”, “Let Gaza Live” and “Their blood is in on your hands”.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told tens of thousands gathered in Jakarta on Sunday that the government reaffirmed its support for the struggle of the Palestinian people and would send a second shipment of aid.
Concerns over West Bank
Worsening violence in the Palestinian territory West Bank has fuelled concerns that the flashpoint Palestinian territory could become a third front in a wider war – in addition to Israel’s northern border, where clashes with Lebanese Hezbollah forces have mounted.
“This has been a serious problem that’s only worsened since the conflict,” Blinken said, adding that he raised it on Friday in his meetings with Israeli officials. “Perpetrators must be held accountable.”
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Islamist political party and militant group formed in 1982 after Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon that year. It is backed by Iran and leads a multi-party alliance that holds just under half the seats in Lebanon’s parliament.
Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, the US, Germany and the UK. The European Union lists only its military wing as a terrorist organisation. However, Hezbollah itself makes no distinction between its political and military wings.
Palestinian children walk on a damaged road at the Jenin camp in the West Bank. Source: Getty / Aris Messinis/AFP
This year had already been the deadliest for West Bank residents in at least 15 years, with some 200 Palestinians and 26 Israelis killed, according to UN data. Since the war in Gaza began, 121 West Bank Palestinians have been killed.
Daily attacks by Israeli settlers have more than doubled, UN figures show, even though most of the deaths have occurred during clashes with Israeli soldiers.
Encircling Gaza City
Israel last month ordered all civilians to leave the northern part of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, and head to the south of the enclave.
The Israeli military has since encircled Gaza’s biggest city and is engaging in fierce street fighting with Hamas militants.
Israeli planes dropped leaflets on Gaza City, ordering people to leave towards the south through the Salah Al-Deen Road between 10am and 2pm local time on Sunday.
“Time has come, the state of Israel asks you to preserve your lives and to evacuate your homes from the areas of fighting,” said the statement. “Use the chance and evacuate immediately through Salah Al-Deen Road.”
US special envoy David Satterfield said in Amman on Saturday that between 800,000 and a million people had moved to the south of the Gaza Strip, while 350,000 to 400,000 remained in and around Gaza City.
Gaza’s living conditions, already dire before the fighting, have deteriorated further. Food is scarce, residents have resorted to drinking salty water and medical services are collapsing.
The UN humanitarian office OCHA estimates that nearly 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are internally displaced.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
