Intensifying Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip

BarcelonaIsrael continued its attacks across the Gaza Strip on Monday, after one of the bloodiest weekends in months. In Rafah, a key flashpoint for Israeli advances since May, the Israeli military detonated explosive devices planted in several homes, and an airstrike on a Syrian neighborhood killed two people, according to the Red Crescent. In the Al-Mawasi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, five people were killed in an overnight bombardment, and another daytime attack on a home killed four. In the northern Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, an Israeli convoy killed one person and wounded several others.

Palestinian doctors also recovered the bodies of ten people on Monday in the eastern part of Rafah, some of which had already begun to decompose. The discovery of these bodies is another indication that dozens of people still buried under the rubble and whose whereabouts have not yet been determined may already be in a state of decomposition.

The attacks come after one of the deadliest weekends in months. On Saturday, at least 90 people were killed and more than 300 injured in a strike on the Mawasi refugee camp, an area previously designated by Israel as a “humanitarian zone.” On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces attacked a UN school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 17 people and wounding around 80. An Israeli attack on Monday destroyed the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the attack on social media as “yet another episode of blatant disregard for international humanitarian law.” “UN facilities must be protected at all times. They must never be used for military or combat purposes,” Lazzarini said.

Talks are ongoing.

Despite the escalation of hostilities, negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire and release the hostages have not stopped, as confirmed on Sunday by Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official. Hours earlier, a senior Hamas official said that the movement’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh had said that Hamas would halt “the negotiations because of the lack of seriousness of the occupier (Israel) and the continued policy of procrastination and obstruction and the ongoing massacres against defenseless civilians.”