Gaza:

Many foreigners and seriously injured people were set to leave the Gaza Strip under a Qatari-brokered deal on Wednesday as Israeli forces stepped up their offensive against the besieged Palestinian territory.

This agreement was signed between Egypt, Israel and Hamas.

Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing dozens of Palestinians as medics struggled to treat casualties in an area that is facing shortages of food, fuel and basic supplies. Was.

The health ministry in Gaza said Israeli air and artillery bombardments have now killed more than 8,500 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom are women or children.

The Israeli military said 11 soldiers were also killed in fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, the biggest one-day loss for the armed forces since an attack on southern Israel by Hamas fighters on October 7.

Israeli army artillery howitzers deployed at a location in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP

Israel’s Army Radio said most of the dead were infantrymen whose vehicles were attacked by anti-armor missiles.

Israel sent troops into Gaza in response to weeks of aerial bombardment and an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement claimed the death of Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari in an airstrike on Jabaliya, Gaza’s largest refugee camp. Done, which was described as “significant”. “In planning and executing the attack.

IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said, “I understand that this is why there are many reports of collateral damage and non-combatant casualties. We are looking into those as well.”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassim denied the existence of any senior commanders in the camp and called the claim an Israeli excuse for killing civilians. Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 were injured.

A Hamas statement said 400 people were killed and wounded in Jabaliya, where families of refugees from the 1948 wars with Israel live.

The explosion left huge craters all around and buildings were damaged. Israel repeatedly warned Gaza residents to evacuate the northern areas and while many fled to the south, many remained.

Israel besieged Gaza after the Hamas attack, and UN and other aid officials said civilians in the enclave were living in a public health disaster, with hospitals struggling to treat casualties due to power outages. Was falling.

People take part in a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza in Aarhus, Denmark. Photo: Reuters

Gaza’s largest telecommunications provider Paltel said communications and internet services were again completely cut in the enclave on Wednesday.

Public health crisis looms in Gaza

In Washington, a group of anti-war protesters raised red hands to disrupt a hearing in Congress on providing more aid to Israel. They chanted, “Cease fire now!” “Protect the children of Gaza!” and “Stop funding genocide.” Capitol Police escorted him out of the room.

Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for the Gaza health ministry, said power generators at the Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza and the Indonesian hospital would run out of fuel within a few hours. He called upon petrol pump owners in the enclave to immediately provide fuel to both the hospitals, if possible.

Following the attack on Jabaliya, footage obtained by Reuters showed dozens of bodies wrapped in white lying on the side of an Indonesian hospital.

With dwindling supplies of medicines, power outages and air or artillery attacks battering hospital buildings, surgeons in Gaza have worked around the clock to save a steady stream of patients.

“We take an hour at a time because we don’t know when we will get patients,” said Dr. Mohammed Al. “Many times we have to set up surgical space in corridors and even sometimes in the waiting areas of the hospital.” Is.” Run said.

Hamas has told mediators it will soon release some of the 200 or so foreign captives captured during attacks on Israel, Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the group’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video on the Telegram app. said in. Tuesday He did not provide any further information about the number of detainees or their nationalities.

Meanwhile, captured Israeli families on Tuesday appealed to the International Criminal Court to order an investigation into the killings and abductions. Israel is not a member of the Hague-based court and refuses to recognize its jurisdiction.

Internet, phones ‘completely’ shut down in Gaza

Internet and phone networks were shut down in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Palestinian Telecommunications Agency said, the second such blackout in the besieged territory in less than a week.

“To our good people in the beloved country, we are saddened to announce that communications and internet services in Gaza have been completely cut off,” Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) said on Twitter.

Global network monitor NetBlocks confirmed that Gaza is “in the midst of a new internet blackout, which will have an extreme impact on Paltel, the last remaining major operator.

“This event will be experienced by most residents as a complete loss of telecommunications,” a post on X said.

An AFP journalist in Gaza confirmed the loss of communications, and said his phone still had signal because he was using an international SIM card.

Another AFP journalist said that in the border city of Rafah only people with Israeli or Egyptian phone lines could use their mobiles.

Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint near the border with Lebanon in northern Israel. Photo: Reuters

Internet and phone networks were completely shut down last week but were restored over the weekend.

The Palestinian group’s government at the time accused Israel of carrying out the shutdown “to commit genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian telecommunications provider Jawwal blamed Israel’s “heavy bombardment” of the area for the blackout.

‘Progress’ on safe passage for foreigners

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States had made “real progress” in the past few hours in negotiations to secure safe passage for Americans and other foreign nationals wishing to leave Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Friday to meet with members of the government and then make other stops in the region, the department said.

On Tuesday, Blinken said the United States and other countries were considering “a variety of possible transitions” to Gaza’s future if Hamas fighters were removed from control. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after several inconclusive wars since 2007.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected international calls for a “humanitarian pause” in the fight to enable emergency aid delivery to civilians suffering severe shortages of food, medicine, drinking water and fuel.

The US, Qatar and Egypt are working to open the Rafah crossing into Egypt to allow people to cross.

Egyptian authorities will allow 81 Gazans seriously injured in the bombing to enter Egypt on Wednesday to complete treatment, the Palestinian Border Authority said.