Starving Gaza has stormed UN humanitarian distribution centers and forced bakers to seek police protection. A situation that prompted the United Nations to raise the alarm: “Public order in Gaza is beginning to collapse.” In the north of the Strip the Israeli army, with tanks and ground troops, continues to hammer Hamas and the clashes are violent: among these there was the first between Islamic soldiers and militiamen who suddenly emerged from one of the many tunnels near the Erez crossing.
“Thousands of people – the UN announced in the morning – have entered several UNRWA warehouses and distribution centers in the central and southern Gaza Strip. It is a worrying sign that public order is starting to collapse after three weeks of war and a severe siege on Gaza.” Images circulating throughout the day showed people leaving warehouses with bags of flour and other products. The Hamas police had to intervene and, according to local sources, managed to recover a good part of the looted quantities after a few hours.
Furthermore, it should be noted that so far only 80 aid trucks have entered the Palestinian enclave from the Rafah crossing – between Egypt and Gaza. “Very few trucks, slow processes, rigorous inspections, supplies that do not meet the requirements of the UN and other humanitarian organizations, and above all the ban on the entry of fuel are a recipe for failure”, denounced the director of UNRWA in Gaza Thomas White. The situation, as summarized by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres himself, is “becoming more and more desperate by the hour”. But instead of a humanitarian ceasefire, it was Guterres’ new thrust, Israel intensified its military operations.
To ease the pressure on the population of Gaza, the US also intervened and – according to the Wall Street Journal – urged Israel to restore communications to Gaza. An intervention that seems rather decisive given that since this morning telephones and internet – which Israel had isolated at the time of the blitz in the north of the Strip – have started to work again. National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan, while reiterating that Hamas uses civilians as human shields in Gaza, was then rather blunt in underlining that Israel has a responsibility to protect civilians. But above all he branded as “totally unacceptable” the increase in violence by Israeli settlers since the war broke out in Gaza. Concepts that US President Joe Biden repeated to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the first phone call between the two since the army started the blitz, also insisting on the need to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance in an “immediate and significant” way.
Israel, however, announced that it had summoned the Russian ambassador Anatoly Viktorov to protest against the recent visit of a Hamas delegation to Moscow.
On the field, Israeli troops have increased their forces and expanded the bridgehead deeper into the Palestinian enclave, while still remaining within a rather contained perimeter. But northern Gaza is not the only point of friction: intense clashes are also reported in the central part of the Strip, near the el-Bureij refugee camp. Even in this case, however, we are always talking about a restricted area close to the defensive barrier.
The raids by the Jewish air force also hit Gaza City, including the area of the al-Quds hospital (Israel has once again forcefully asked for its evacuation) and the Islamic University. “Israeli occupation forces continue to deliberately fire rockets directly near Al-Quds Hospital to force medical staff, displaced persons and patients to evacuate the hospital. This has caused significant damage to hospital wards and exposed residents and patients to risk of suffocation”, denounced the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari indicated 450 attacks against “Hamas terror” targets, including operational command centers, observation posts and anti-tank missile launch sites. Among those killed was also a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad: Taysir Alghouti, member of the organisation’s Political Office. The Erez crossing – explained the army, referring to the clash in which militiamen emerging from tunnels were killed – “before October 7, it was the place from where thousands of people from Gaza entered Israel to work or be treated. Hamas has built tunnel”. But in that battle the first wounded soldiers were also reported, two seriously. Rocket attacks continued in Israel: not only from Gaza but also from Lebanon. In just over an hour, at least 9 arrived by Hezbollah. The deaths in the Strip have exceeded 8 thousand, the number of hostages in the hands of Hamas has risen to 239.
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2023-10-29 19:31:00
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