“RELEASE OF THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN”
The attacks on Israel plunged the nation into deep mourning and galvanised the country, which mobilised hundreds of thousands of reservists within days.
Families of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas are terrified for their safety.
Avichai Brodetz, a farmer from Kibbutz Kfar Aza whose wife and three children were taken captive to Gaza, set up a camp outside the Israeli army headquarters to focus attention on their plight.
“The first thing that needs to happen is the release of the women and children,” he told reporters. “I don’t want to be political, I don’t want to stand here with you. I love my friends and my home and my kibbutz. I hope we can return there and you’ll never see me again.”
Israel’s attacks on Gaza have not halted Hamas missile strikes deep into Israeli cities. Air raid sirens wailed in central Israel on Saturday morning and rockets smashed into a greenhouse in Ashkelon and wounded four people at a kibbutz.
The only route out of Gaza that is not under Israeli control is a checkpoint with Egypt at Rafah. Egypt officially says its side is open, but traffic has been halted for days because of Israeli strikes on the Palestinian side.
Egyptian security sources said the Egyptian side is being reinforced and Cairo has no intention of accepting a mass influx of Palestinian refugees.
A senior US State Department official said the United States was working with Egyptian, Israeli and Qatari officials to open the crossing later on Saturday to let some people out. Washington had been in touch with some Palestinian-Americans in Gaza who wanted to leave, the official said, adding it was not clear whether Hamas would let anyone reach the crossing.
Countries and aid agencies have sent supplies to Egypt but have so far been unable to bring them into Gaza. Israel says nothing can enter through Rafah without its coordination.
The Gaza Strip is already one of the most crowded areas in the world, and Israel’s evacuation order for the northern half meant those fleeing south were forced to shelter with relatives and friends, in schools or in hastily rented apartments.
Israel says the order is a humanitarian gesture to protect residents from harm while it roots out Hamas fighters entrenched in Gaza City.
The United Nations says so many people cannot be safely moved inside the besieged enclave without causing a humanitarian disaster. It warned on Saturday of the threat of deadly water-borne disease without urgent deliveries of fuel to power Gaza’s freshwater system.
Hamas has vowed to fight until the last drop of blood and says the order to leave the north of the enclave is a trick to force residents to give up their homes. Gaza City mosques have blared calls telling people to stay.
“EVEN WARS HAVE RULES”
The Israeli military said on Friday that tank-backed troops had mounted raids to hit Palestinian rocket crews and gather information on the location of hostages, the first official account of ground troops in Gaza since the crisis began.
The United Nations estimated that tens of thousands of Palestinians headed south from northern Gaza after the Israeli order on Friday, adding to 400,000 Gazans already displaced earlier in the week.
“We need immediate humanitarian access throughout Gaza, so that we can get fuel, food and water to everyone in need,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday. “Even wars have rules.”
The United States has firmly backed its ally Israel, but has called on it to avoid civilian casualties. President Joe Biden said tackling the humanitarian crisis was a top priority.
“The overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas and Hamas’ appalling attacks,” Biden said in a speech. “And they’re suffering as a result as well.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a lightning tour of the Middle East to rally allies, met Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister in Riyadh and was due to travel to the United Arab Emirates. He has already visited Israel, Jordan and Qatar.
Source: CNA
