He Israeli army killed at least 51 Gazans between the night and early morning of this Thursdayaccording to local sources in the Gaza Strip, following the announcement from Qatar of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that will take effect on Sunday.
The attacks have occurred in core areas such as the Nuseirat camp and against homes in the southern Khan Yunis, but one of the most affected areas has once again been the capital of Gaza City, in the north, with at least 28 dead. “A scary night throughout the Gaza Strip! He Rate of bombing has increased dramatically in the last hours, and with it the number of martyrs and wounded,” journalist Anas al Sharif, who works for Al Jazeera in Gaza, denounced early in the morning.
At least 18 Gazans were killed and others wounded in the bombing of residential blocks in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, west of Gaza City, according to the Gaza Civil Defense. In addition, three other people died in the attack on another house in the Al Daraj neighborhood, east of the capital, Wafa confirmed. Also in Gaza City, rescue teams recovered 5 dead and more than 10 injured from under the rubble of a bombed house in the Al Rimal neighborhood, while medical sources confirmed the death of two girls in the attack on two houses in the Shujaiya neighborhood.
Two more citizens died in the Qizan Rashwan area, south of Khan Yunis, where there were also attacks on homes and a charity hospice which caused an unknown number of deaths. In Nuseirat, Israeli airstrikes also caused new fatalities, medical sources indicated.
More than 46,700 dead
The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Mohamed bin Abderrahman Al Thani, announced in Doha that Israel and Hamas had finally reached a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with the goal of being permanent and that will come into force on Sunday. More than 46,700 Palestinians have been killed and around twice as many injured in the Strip by Israeli attacks in 15 months of devastating warinitiated after the multiple attack by Hamas, although that estimate would be very conservative according to some calculations.
The Islamist group Hamas, for its part, celebrated the agreement and indicated that the cessation of the “aggression against Gaza” is one more step on the path towards goals of “liberation and return” of the Palestinian people who lives under Israeli occupation.
The ceasefire agreement contemplates a first phase of six weeks in which 33 Israeli hostages – with priority given to children, women and the elderly – will be released in exchange for the release of more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners. There are 94 captives left inside the Strip, 34 of them confirmed dead, but the real number could be higher. To date, the parties had only reached a truce agreement, the last week of November 2023, when 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 prisoners, with preference in both cases for women and children.
