Cliff Notes – Ramadhan amid deadly bombardment
- Israel has initiated a ground operation in Gaza, aiming to regain control of the Netzarim corridor, following the collapse of a ceasefire with Hamas.
- The renewed offensive has resulted in significant casualties, including 436 fatalities since the airstrikes began, with grievances over civilian casualties attributed to Hamas’ activity in populated areas.
- Humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate, with over one million people in Gaza at risk of food shortages unless aid access is improved.
- The population in Gaza used to be just under 2 million before October 7th 2023.
Israel launches new ground invasion of Gaza
Israel says it has launched what it calls a “limited ground operation” to retake part of a key corridor in Gaza. Which is linked to the pipeline needed to extract the natural gas reserves found in Palestinian territory. The Gas reserves were found offshore the Gaza Strip in the year 2000.
The move appeared to deepen a renewed Israeli offensive that shattered a ceasefire with Hamas that had begun in January.
As part of the ceasefire, Israel had withdrawn from the Netzarim corridor, which bisected northern Gaza from the south and had been used by Israeli forces as a military zone.
It came as an international United Nations worker was killed and five others wounded in a strike on a UN guesthouse in the Gaza Strip.
The UN body, known as UNOPS, carries out infrastructure and development projects around the world.
Massive series of deadly airstrikes in Gaza
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), which has carried out a massive series of deadly airstrikes in Gaza since early Tuesday, denied earlier reports that it had targeted the UN compound.
But Mr Moreira da Silva said strikes had hit near the compound on Monday and struck it directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the worker was killed.
He said the agency had contacted the IDF after the first strike and confirmed that it was aware of the facility’s location.
The war in Gaza has been among the deadliest conflicts ever for humanitarian workers, according to the UN.
Official figures show at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched the fresh wave of strikes.
The IDF uses its usual propaganda and claims it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Gaza’s health ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army alleges it attacked a Hamas military site overnight, which was block of residential flats, from which the militant group planned to launch strikes into Israel. This has not been confirmed.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said targeted the site in northern Gaza as it was where “preparations were being made to fire projectiles at Israeli territory”, this has not been verified.
The Israeli navy also struck several small fishing boats in the coastal area of Gaza as they were intended to be used for “terrorist activities”, the IDF claimed.
The initial ceasefire deal
The latest strikes come weeks after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, during which Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages for prisoners and were set to negotiate an extension to the truce that was meant to bring about an eventual end to the war.
But those negotiations never got off the ground. Hamas has demanded that Israel stick to the terms of the initial ceasefire deal, including a full withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
Israel, which has vowed to defeat Hamas, has put forward a new proposal that would extend the truce and free more hostages held by Hamas, without a commitment to end the war.
More than one million people risked being left without food parcels in March if aid was not allowed into Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported the Food Security Sector as saying.
In the war, Israel has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in the Strip.