The Israeli Army withdrew all its ground troops from the south of the Gaza Strip last night, and only one brigade remains in the enclave, a military source confirmed to EFE this Sunday.
The withdrawal occurs after four months of fighting in the Khan Younis area and six months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, where more than 33,100 Palestinians have already died, most of them women and children.
Currently, there is only one Israeli brigade left in the Palestinian enclave that is responsible for securing a corridor between southern Israel and the Gaza coast, blocking the passage to the north of the Strip and facilitating operations in the center and north of the territory.
The two main hospitals devastated
The two main hospitals of this southern city, Al Amal and Naser, have been devastated and inoperative after the siege by Jewish troops during these months under the thesis that there was the presence of alleged combatants in these complexes.
“Dozens of suspects have been handed over to the Shin Bet and Unit 504 of the Directorate of Military Intelligence for further interrogation,” the Army detailed in a statement on April 2.
Likewise, the Israeli Army reported this Sunday that, before its withdrawal, its combat units have carried out the last operations in the Al Amal neighborhood to finish “dismantling the terrorist infrastructure.”
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Israel’s next objective in Gaza appears to be the already announced military incursion into Rafah, in the south of the enclave, where 1.4 million displaced people live and, according to the Army, four Hamas battalions still remain; an incursion opposed by the United States, Israel’s main military ally.
The dead in Gaza total 33,175, more than 42% children
The official death toll in the Gaza Strip reached 33,175 this Sunday, six months after the start of the devastating Israeli war offensive.
More than 14,000 of those dead, or 42%, are children, while 9,220 would be women, according to the same source. The total number of injured is 75,886, to which must be added some 7,000 bodies that are estimated to remain under tons of rubble.
“The Israeli occupation committed 4 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, causing 38 deaths and 71 injuries in hospitals during the last 24 hours,” the Gaza Ministry of Health detailed today in a statement.
Egypt increases the number of humanitarian aid trucks
Egypt decided to increase the number of trucks with food, medical aid and emergency supplies for the Gaza Strip to at least 300 trucks per day starting this Sunday, reported the head of the Egyptian State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, in a release.
This decision is worth the grade. part of “President Abdel Fattah al Sisi’s directives” to increase humanitarian aid entering the Palestinian enclave from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, the only one not controlled by Israel, despite the fact that it inspects every shipment that enters from it.
In fact, Egypt denounced on numerous occasions the delays and traffic jams of trucks in northern Sinai due to Israeli inspections and the rejections of certain products, which has forced the Arab country to launch aid by air to appease the humanitarian crisis derived from the conflict.
According to the latest report from the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), “since the beginning of April, a daily average of 169 aid trucks have entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Rafah land crossings. This figure is still well below the operational capacity of both crossings and the objective of 500 trucks per day.”
Netanyahu: “There will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated this Sunday, six months into the war in the Gaza Strip, that there will be no truce agreement if the 133 hostages still in the hands of Hamas do not return home, adding that Israel will not give in to the “extreme demands” of the Islamists.
“I made (something) clear to the international community: there will be no ceasefire without the return of the kidnapped people. It simply will not happen,” Netanyahu said today in a speech before meeting with his cabinet, and recalled that the Administration of North American President Joe Biden shares the same opinion of him.
He added that Israel is not opposed to a truce agreement and blamed Hamas for “extreme demands” aimed at ending the war “to ensure its survival, its rehabilitation, (and) its ability to endanger” citizens. and Israeli soldiers again.
This same night there is a massive anti-government demonstration called in Jerusalem, in which not only activists will participate but also some of the relatives of the captives, who blame Netanyahu for being more concerned about their political survival than about returning his loved ones home.
Israel, prepared to respond to a possible attack from Iran
The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, assured this Sunday that Israel has completed preparations to face “any scenario” against Iran, which has been threatening for days to retaliate for an alleged Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus (Syria). .
Gallant made these statements after the meeting held today with the head of the Israeli Army’s Operations Directorate, Oded Basiuk, and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Aharon Haliva, according to a statement from the authorities.
Israel is on alert after the attack that occurred last Monday, April 1, against the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria, in which at least 19 people were killed, including the highest-ranking commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Mohamed Reza Zahedi.
Iran insisted, after celebrating Zahedi’s funeral yesterday, that this attack will not go “unpunished” and that there will be a response against Israel, whom it accuses of being behind it.
BY: Mian Saeed Ahmed Khan
