The Israeli regime has ramped up its US-backed aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip despite claims about shifting to a “low-intensity phase” in the months-long genocidal war in the besieged territory.
Palestinian media reported on Saturday a surge in Israeli attacks in the south of the Gaza Strip, citing witnesses as saying that the regime’s bombardment was mostly focused overnight on Khan Yunis in the south as well as on Jabalia in the north.
Reports said Israeli strikes targeted Batn al-Sameen neighborhood in the south of Khan Yunis and violent clashes took place in the vicinity of Nasser Medical Complex.
لحظة استهداف منطقة بطن السمين جنوب خانيونس بالغارات الإسرائيلية العنيفة pic.twitter.com/8GrABMrJ1D
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) January 20, 2024
Palestine’s Shehab news agency said the occupation planes also targeted a house near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza and a baby boy was recovered alive from under the rubble.
Palestinian Red Crescent announced that its crews had over the past day “dealt with 10 martyrs and 21 injuries as a result of Zionist bombing that targeted various areas in Jabalia.”
The Gaza health ministry said on Friday that 142 Palestinians had been killed and 278 injured in the Strip over the past 24 hours, confirming that the total number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Israeli war in early October was over 24,620, in addition to more than 6,1830 injured and thousands missing.
The illegal entity claimed earlier in the month that it had shifted to a “low-intensity phase” of its war in Gaza, however daily tallies of the Palestinian death toll remain high.
Palestinian media said 172 people were killed in the Israeli shelling of Gaza on Thursday, 163 Palestinians on Wednesday and 158 and 132 others on Tuesday and Monday, respectively.
Since Israel started its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, the United States and its western allies have provided unrestricted financial and logistical support to the occupying entity in its incessant bombardment campaign against civilians in the besieged territory.
US opposes ceasefire in Gaza; UK okays arms sales to Israel
The White House said in a statement that US President Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone conversation late on Friday, with the former reiterating Washington’s rejection of a ceasefire in Gaza despite the rising death toll and saying, “The US still opposes a general ceasefire in Gaza.”
“The president also discussed his vision for a more durable peace and security for Israel fully integrated within the region and a two state-solution with Israel’s security guaranteed,” the White House said about their call.
Meanwhile, UK’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron recommended on Friday arms sales to Israel in defiance of “serious concerns” from legal and human rights groups that Israel had breached international law in its war on Gaza.
Claiming that Israel was committed to complying with international humanitarian law, Cameron advised the Trade and Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch not to suspend export licenses for UK arms sales to Israel.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Thursday that the regime had dropped more than 65,000 tons of missiles and bombs on Gaza throughout the war.
Thousands of Palestinians are missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.
