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Rocket Fire from the Gaza Strip on December 21
Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne / REUTERS
Air alert in southern Israel and Tel Aviv: The terrorist organization Hamas has once again launched a large-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. The "rocket fire" follows "in response to the Israeli massacres against civilians," Hamas' military-terrorist wing said. Israel's army reported rocket interceptions and falling debris, but no casualties.
Eleven weeks after the devastating attack on Israel on October 7, Hamas' weapons depots do not appear to be exhausted. Hundreds of Hamas fighters had invaded Israeli towns and villages that day, committing atrocities against civilians. According to Israeli figures, around 1200,250 people were killed and about <> more were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.
In response to the attack, Israel began attacking targets in the Gaza Strip and also launched a ground offensive. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, around 20,000 people have been killed so far. The information cannot be independently verified, but is considered reliable.
Intense bombardment of northern Gaza
According to the Reuters news agency, Israel's army carried out one of the heaviest bombardments of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war on Thursday. According to the report, the target was the north of the Gaza Strip. At dawn, explosions and smoke could be seen again and again from Israel in Gaza.
The timing of the intensified hostilities on both sides is probably no coincidence. Negotiations are currently underway in Cairo for a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyyeh had already travelled to the Egyptian capital on Wednesday for talks. Islamic Jihad, a smaller terrorist group that also holds hostages in the Gaza Strip, also announced that its leader would also travel to Egypt in the coming days for negotiations.
Recently, however, Hamas said in a statement that there would be no negotiations on a possible further exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners until Israel's "aggression" had ended. This was "a Palestinian national decision," the statement said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday once again referred to the humanitarian emergency in the Gaza Strip. There are no more functioning hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip. Patients are not only dying because of lack of medical care, said WHO relief coordinator Sean Casey. "They're starving and dying of thirst," he said.
fek/Reuters/AFP