Israeli attacks on Gaza continue despite UN ceasefire resolution

The Israeli army on Wednesday continued intense airstrikes and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, notably in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south, despite the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopting a resolution demanding "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" a day earlier.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that at least 18,608 Palestinians have been killed and 50,594 others wounded in the Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. As many as 27 civilians were killed on Thursday as the Israeli forces bombarded two houses in Rafah, Palestinian media reported.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday it had targeted more than 250 locations in Gaza in the past 24 hours. A total of 115 Israeli soldier have been killed since the onset of ground battles in Gaza on October 27, it added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would fight on despite international pressure for a ceasefire, according to Reuters. 

"We're continuing until the end, until victory, until Hamas is annihilated," he told soldiers in Gaza over radio. "I say this in the face of great pain but also in the face of international pressures. Nothing will stop us."

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that the Gaza-ruling Palestinian faction is ready to discuss with Israel any arrangement or initiative that could lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.

"We are open to discuss any arrangement or initiative that could end the (Israeli) aggression," Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, said in a televised speech aired on Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, adding that without Hamas, any arrangement regarding the future of Gaza would not succeed.

'A living hell'

A top UN official told the 2023 Global Refugee Forum in Geneva on Wednesday that Gaza is now "a living hell," calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), flew to the forum directly from Gaza.

Most of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced, he said, largely into the southern city of Rafah. The city has now swelled from 280,000 people to well over a million, and has therefore become "a tented community."

According to the UN official, the sight of a truck carrying humanitarian assistance now provokes chaos. Hungry people stop the truck and ask for food, and they eat it on the street. "I witnessed this firsthand when I entered into Gaza on Monday evening," Lazzarini said.

UNRWA is now sheltering more than a million people in its schools and other facilities, distributing whatever food it manages to bring in, "but this is often as little as a bottle of water and a can of tuna per day, per family, often numbering six or seven people."

The people of Gaza are facing the darkest chapter of their history since 1948, Lazzarini stressed, and are running out of time and options as they face bombardment, deprivation and disease in an ever-shrinking space.

The only lifeline

Egypt will increase the volume of fuel sent daily to the Gaza Strip from 129,000 to 189,000 liters as agreed with the Israeli side, said Diaa Rashwan, chairman of Egypt's State Information Service, on Wednesday.

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been the only lifeline to provide the enclave with relief supplies, donated by Egypt and other countries as well as local and international organizations.

Rashwan said that since October 21, 4,057 humanitarian aid trucks have been sent from Egypt to the besieged Palestinian enclave via the Rafah border crossing.

This includes 3,866 tons of medical supplies, 22,799 tons of food, 13,936 tons of water, 5,073 tons of other relief materials and 2,678 tons of fuel, besides 48 ambulances and 222 tents and pieces of tarpaulins.

"Egypt is continuing its intense efforts to ensure the constant entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza," the Egyptian official said.

(With input from agencies)