Weeks of heavy aerial bombardment and a ground invasion demolished vast swaths of Gaza and killed thousands of Palestinians. But it seems to have had little effect on Hamas’ power, evidenced by its ability to conduct complex negotiations, enforce the ceasefire among other armed groups, and orchestrate the release of prisoners.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are now crammed into southern Gaza, with some three-quarters of them driven from their homes. The truce has led to a frenzied rush to obtain supplies to feed their families as aid enters in greater, but still insufficient, amounts.
International pressure for a lasting ceasefire is mounting. An Israeli ground invasion of the south will likely bring an escalating cost in Palestinian lives and destruction that the United States, Israel’s main ally, could be unwilling to bear given the cost dealt to its credibility so far.
The ceasefire is due to end at some point after an exchange of prisoners Wednesday.
Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s state information services, said negotiations have made progress and that it is “highly likely” an extension would be announced Wednesday. Egypt, along with Qatar and the U.S., played a key role in mediating the original ceasefire and a two-day extension announced Monday.
More than 14,000 Palestinians have been martyred, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since Nov. 11 due to the breakdown of services in the north. The ministry says thousands more people are missing and feared dead under the rubble.
The Zionist regime says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground invasion, but Palestinian resistance groups say the true death toll is much higher.
Israel said Wednesday around 160 Zionists are still held in Gaza. A total of 60 Zionists have been freed under the truce, most of whom appear physically well. Another 21 prisoners — 19 Thais, one Filipino and one Russian-Israeli — have been released in separate negotiations since the truce began. Before the ceasefire, Hamas released four prisoners. Two others were found dead in Gaza.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that a resumption of fighting in Gaza threatens to “devour the region.”
“A resumption in fighting would only, most likely, turn into a calamity that devours the whole region,” he said.
The United Nations’ secretary general said that inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are experiencing “a monumental humanitarian catastrophe”.
Antonio Guterres called for a “real ceasefire” and said that the world “must not look away”.
“The volume of aid reaching the Palestinians in Gaza is still completely insufficient to meet the needs of more than two million people,” particularly for fuel, insisted the secretary general, who once again called for the opening of other points of passage into the Gaza Strip, including Rafah.
The bodies of five premature Palestinian babies have reportedly been discovered in Al-Nasr Hospital as reporters and aid workers sort through the remains of the bombed-out health facility during the truce in the Gaza Strip.
Journalists from Emirati TV channel Al-Mashhad discovered the decomposing remains of the children, who were not among those evacuated from the children’s hospital after Zionist forces ordered patients and staff to leave on 10 November.
In the West Ban, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Adam al-Ghoul, nine, and Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa, 15, were killed by Zionist soldiers in Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday evening Israeli forces launched an all-out assault on the camp, which is a major source of resistance and has been invaded repeatedly over the past year, especially since the October 7 attack on southern occupied territories.
CCTV footage of Ghoul’s killing was greeted with outrage on social media.
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