The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, assured this Saturday that his country is making “the maximum effort” to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip in the face of the Israeli bombing campaign, and indicated that it is working with Israel to “open safe corridors” for the enclave’s population.
“We do not want to see civilian casualties either in Gaza or anywhere else in the world, and we are doing our utmost to protect them,” Blinken said in a meeting in Riyadh with the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan.
The American asserted that he is working with the Israeli authorities to “open safe corridors and establish safe zones so that civilians are not harmed by these attacks,” while insisting that the Jewish State “continues to exercise its legal and natural right to defend itself.” ”.
Israel extends the ultimatum until 13:00 GMT
The Israeli Army today informed the population of northern Gaza that they have until 1:00 p.m. GMT, three in the afternoon Spanish peninsular time, to move to the south of the enclave along a series of specific roads that, it assured, will not be bombed until then. .
This message comes hours after the 24-hour deadline that Israel gave early this Friday to the 1.1 million inhabitants of the northern strip, anticipating an intensification of attacks on the Palestinian enclave.
“The Israel Defense Forces will allow movement on the indicated streets without any damage between 10:00 and 16:00. For your safety, take advantage of the short time to move south, from Beit Hanun to Khan Yunis. If you care about yourself and your loved ones, please head south as instructed,” Israeli Army spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote in Arabic via the social network X, in a message accompanied by a map marking specific roads.
Israel’s evacuation order at midnight between Thursday and Friday generated widespread chaos in Gaza, with tens of thousands of Palestinians taking their belongings and heading south on foot or by car.
Gaza border crossings remain closed
The six border crossings that Gaza has are closed after the Rafah crossing, the only one that borders Egypt, has also been closed by the Palestinian side.
As reported by the WHO, the crossing is accessible on the Egyptian side but remains closed on the other side, which prevents not only the transit of humanitarian aid that is intended to reach the area, such as the shipment of medical supplies sent to Egypt. by the United Nations body, but also that of people.
In the last few hours, other aid agencies had also confirmed that the Rafah border crossing was not operational.
The Egyptian authorities have reported in recent days that the vicinity of the Rafah crossing has been bombed by Israel, which has caused interruptions in the operations of the border crossing that separates the Egyptian Sinai with the Palestinian enclave and which is now also closed for humanitarian aid.
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza rises to 2,215
Meanwhile, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombings on Gaza rose today to 2,215, including 724 children and 458 women, as reported today by the Gaza Ministry of Health.
He added that 8,714 people have been wounded since hostilities began on Saturday following an attack by the Islamist movement Hamas that left more than 1,300 dead in Israel.
This new figure marks an increase of about 300 Palestinian deaths since the last report from the Ministry of Health, issued last night, after a new night of Israeli bombings, which have practically not stopped during the last week.
Israel kills Hamas air force chief
The Israeli Army continued bombing Gaza last night and this morning, where it attacked a post with dozens of militiamen from the elite corps of the armed wing of the Islamist group Hamas and the operations headquarters for its aerial activity, where its top commander, Merad Abu Merad, was killed. considered one of those responsible for directing last Saturday’s infiltration.
“Last night, Israeli warplanes carried out large-scale attacks throughout the Strip,” including on a point “where there were dozens of Hamas terrorist targets and terrorist operatives from Nukhba,” an elite unit of the al-Qasam Brigades. which was “one of the main forces” that a week ago “led the ground infiltration” into Israel, a military spokesman said.
According to him, “dozens of terrorists” died in the attack, to which was added another air offensive this morning against the operations headquarters from where Hamas managed the group’s air actions, which these days of offensive were seen in the use and drone attacks or even in the movement of militiamen who managed to enter Israel with paragliders.
Israel kills several militants when they tried to infiltrate its territory from Lebanon
Jerusalem (EFE).- A group of militiamen tried to cross from Lebanon to Israeli soil this Saturday and Israeli Army soldiers killed several of them, a military spokesman reported, amid tension on the border between both countries due to the war between the Jewish State and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
“Army soldiers identified a terrorist cell that tried to infiltrate Israeli territory from Lebanon. An Israeli forces drone targeted the terrorist cell and killed several of the terrorists,” the Israeli military spokesman said.
Since last Sunday, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanese territory have launched several rockets and missiles towards Israel, which has counterattacked. Only during this morning three incidents were recorded.
Plane carrying WHO medical supplies arrives in Egypt
In Cairo, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced today that a plane loaded with medical supplies landed in Egypt so that the aid can be transferred to the Gaza Strip once the authorities give access through the crossing that separates the Egyptian Sinai with the Palestinian enclave.
In a statement issued by the WHO office for the Eastern Mediterranean, it was detailed that the plane is transporting 78 cubic meters of medical material from the organization’s logistics center in Dubai.
This includes material to treat some 1,200 wounded and 1,500 patients suffering from heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and respiratory problems, as well as essential basic elements to meet the needs of some 300,000 people, including pregnant women.
Ghebreyesus assured that the organization is “ready” to transport supplies to Gaza “as soon as humanitarian access is established through the Rafah crossing, the only exit from the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel and the only route to the entry of humanitarian aid to the enclave.
By Nadeem Faisal Baiga
