Israeli airstrikes continued to pound the Gaza Strip while the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) kept firing rockets at Israel on Saturday, the 15th day of the ongoing armed conflict, reported Xinhua.
On the day, 20 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing, the only border crossing between the besieged coastal enclave and Egypt, after a two-week blockade.
The trucks were loaded with medical aid donated by Egypt's institutions of the National Alliance for Civil Development Work and the Egyptian Red Crescent, Aya Ahmed, public relations officer of Life Makers Foundation, told Xinhua.
"Such a limited convoy will not be able to change the humanitarian catastrophe that the Gaza Strip is experiencing," said Salama Maarouf, head of the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza, in a statement sent to Xinhua.
It is important to establish a safe corridor that works around the clock to provide humanitarian aid and allow the wounded to receive appropriate medical care that is lacking in Gaza, Maarouf said.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune directed on Saturday the government to send urgent supplies, including food, medicines, tents, and clothes to Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians in the strip, the presidency said in a statement.
The Cairo Peace Summit was held on the day at Egypt's new administrative capital east of Cairo, where heads of state and ministers from over 30 countries, as well as leaders of regional and international organizations, urged to de-escalate the conflict in Gaza, pursue a cease-fire, and seek a resolution to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict via a "two-state solution."
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the military is "continuing to prepare for the next stage of the war, including ground operations." Over 300,000 reserve soldiers have been drafted, many of whom are assumed to be preparing for an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited Israel's northern border where skirmishes between the IDF and the Lebanese-based Shiite military group Hezbollah have been on the up-tick since the conflict began.
Several anti-tank missiles were fired toward Israel on Saturday. The IDF responded with artillery fire.
In addition, a Palestinian source told Xinhua that efforts to release hostages held by Hamas in the enclave will continue and now focus on those with Israeli-foreign dual citizenship.
Since the beginning of the fighting, an estimated 1,400 Israelis have been killed, with over 4,600 injured. The military confirmed on Saturday that at least 210 Israelis are being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A total of 4,385 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and about 13,560 have been injured, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry, while the IDF continued to warn residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
About 1.6 million people, at least 60 percent of the Gazan population, have been displaced as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks since the latest round of Hamas-Israel conflict started on Oct. 7, according to a Saturday statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
- Israel
- Palestine
- Conflict
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
