Palestinians inspect the scene of an overnight Israeli strike on Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Oct. 27, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “shocked by the horrific toll of deaths, injuries and destruction in the north” of the Gaza Strip, his spokesperson said on Sunday. The same day, new strikes were launched in the area, notably in Jabalia, where the Israeli army has been leading a devastating and deadly ground and air offensive since Oct. 6 to prevent Hamas from regrouping its forces, according to it.
“The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in the northern Gaza Strip is unbearable,” the U.N. chief denounced in a statement, describing “civilians trapped under rubble, sick and wounded deprived of vital health care, and families lacking food and shelter.”
The army first surrounded Jabalia and called on the population to evacuate to the south, setting up checkpoints to control residents. The operation was then expanded to an area including the town of Beit Lahia, further north, and its surroundings. Since the start of the operation in Jabalia, around 45,000 people have left the area to seek refuge further south, in and around Gaza City, the Israeli army said on Friday.
School targeted
At Gaza's al-Ahli hospital, Jihad Muqat mourned Sunday the deaths of his wife and two young daughters, whose bodies were pulled from the rubble in Jabalia.
"Aline was the eldest, my dear Lulu, she was three and a half years old, and Sama was 12 days old. I also buried my daughter Lara before, she was two years old," he said. At least nine Palestinians, including a child, were also killed Sunday in an Israeli strike on the Asmaa school, located inside the al-Shati refugee camp and converted into a shelter for displaced people on the outskirts of Gaza City, emergency services said. Several wounded were also taken to the city's al-Shifa hospital.
Contacted, the Israeli army said it was "verifying" the information.
"We saw a [fighter jet] destroy the school where people and children lived" who "were torn to pieces" by the explosion, said a witness, Thaer al-Rantissi. The school housed "a large number of people who fled the Jabalia region and the northern Gaza Strip" where the Israeli army is leading an offensive against Hamas, explained Hussein Mohsen, head of ambulance services within the city's emergency services. "This is not the first time that Israeli planes have targeted schools," he added, with the Israeli army accusing Hamas of hiding among the refugees and using the buildings as command centers, which it denies.
Cease-fire talks
New negotiations were planned for Sunday in Doha between Israelis, Americans and Qataris to discuss the possibility of a truce in Gaza associated with the release of hostages. For Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, "painful concessions" are necessary to "bring our hostages home." In more than a year of war in the Palestinian enclave, only a one-week truce had been concluded in November 2023, all other attempts having failed due to the maximalist positions of the warring parties. Mossad chief David Barnea was thus due to meet in Doha with CIA chief William Burns and the Qatari Prime Minister to discuss "different options for resuming negotiations on the release of the hostages," according to the same source.
New formulas are expected to be proposed to pave the way for progress before the US presidential election on Nov. 5. According to the Saudi newspaper al-Shark al-Awsat, senior Hamas officials intended to propose to Doha a single agreement that would include the release of all hostages held in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. A senior Hamas official told the daily that the group was ready to hear "new proposals from the mediating countries, but we prefer a comprehensive agreement that will lead to the end of the war." Key mediator Cairo has proposed "a two-day ceasefire to free four hostages and some Palestinian prisoners," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said, as quoted in the Israeli daily Haaretz.