The death toll from the Israeli aggression on Gaza reached 9,770 on Sunday, the 30th day of the ongoing conflict. Among the victims, 4,800 were children and 2,550 were women, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The ministry also reported that 24,808 people were wounded and 2,660 were missing, including 1,270 children. The spokesperson of the ministry, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said that 70% of the casualties were women and children.
He added that the Israeli occupation forces committed 24 massacres in the past hours, killing 243 Palestinians. One of the latest attacks targeted homes in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of the besieged Gaza Strip, causing dozens of deaths and injuries.
Israeli minister calls for nuking Gaza, Arab states denounce ‘extremist statements’
Egypt and other Arab states denounced the call of the Israeli Minister of Heritage, Amichai Eliyahu, for the occupation army to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza as one of Israel’s options in the war against the Palestinians. He said that anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag “should not continue to live on the earth.”
Eliyahu stated that the Gaza Strip must not remain on the face of the earth, and Israel must re-establish settlements there. He also said that the war has costs for those he described as the Israelis “kidnapped” by the Palestinian resistance.
“I pray and hope for their return, but there is a price to be paid in war. Why are the lives of the abductees, whose release I want, more important than the lives of the soldiers and the people who will be murdered later?” he said.
“The Israeli minister’s demands to drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip serve as evidence of the alarming extent of deviation and extremism among certain decision-makers in the Israeli government,” said Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zeid.
Commenting on the statements, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, said that the racist Israeli minister’s statements were revealing. “Not only does he admit that they possess a nuclear weapon, which is a secret that everyone knows, but he also confirms the reality of the Israelis’ abhorrent racist view towards the Palestinian people. This is the true face of the occupation government for everyone who defends it in the West.”
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that the statements of an Israeli minister about the possibility of dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza reflect the terrorism of the Israeli government against our people.
Moreover, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly” condemned the Israeli minister’s statements. Doha considered these statements “a dangerous incitement to a war crime and a disregard for human and moral values and international laws,” adding that the Israeli minister’s statements represent “an extension of the escalatory policy adopted by the Israeli government in the Palestinian territories.”
Furthermore, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said that his country condemns the extremist statements of the Israeli minister regarding dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip. He added that the Israeli minister’s statements show the penetration of extremism and brutality among members of the Israeli government.
Eliyahu’s statements sparked angry responses within Israel itself, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s words are disconnected from reality,” and claimed that “Israel and the Israeli army act under the highest standards of international law to prevent harm to uninvolved people, and we will continue to do so until victory.”
Israeli Channel 12 also reported that Netanyahu suspended Minister Eliyahu from government meetings until further notice.
In addition, the Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called for Eliyahu’s dismissal from the government, describing it as “a shocking and crazy statement by an irresponsible minister. It harmed the families of the kidnapped, harmed Israeli society, and harmed our international standing.” Lapid added, “The presence of extremists in the government puts us in danger.”
In response to Eliyahu’s statement, the families of the Israeli prisoners in Gaza said that it was a “shocking statement,” according to Israeli media. They added: “We call on the Prime Minister to take immediate action against any minister who wishes to harm the abducted and missing persons,” noting that the minister who calls for the killing of all abducted and missing persons must pay the price today.
Meanwhile, on the battlefront, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that they fired missiles at the Ra’im military base and the city of Beersheba in Israel, in retaliation for the killings of Palestinian civilians. They also claimed to have destroyed an Israeli tank that entered the southwest of Tal al-Hawa with an “Al-Yassin 105” shell.
The Brigades said on Sunday that their fighters targeted the Israeli forces that invaded the northwest and southwest of Gaza City and east of Hajar al-Dik, with dozens of mortar shells.
They also said that they bombed a group of Israeli vehicles that entered west of Erez with mortar shells.
Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Jihad movement, said that their members attacked a group of Israeli vehicles that entered the Al-Karama area in the northwest of Gaza City, with a large number of heavy-calibre mortar shells.
The Jenin Battalion in the Al-Quds Brigades said that it had detonated explosive devices against the Israeli forces and vehicles that entered the Jenin camp, and added that its fighters clashed with the invaders.
The Israeli army confirmed the death of an Israeli soldier during the battles in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, bringing the number of soldiers killed since the start of the ground operation in the Strip to 30. The army also said that two Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded during yesterday’s battles.
Palestinian media reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted a police station in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, while another airstrike hit the Nuseirat camp in the central Strip. The Israeli aircraft also launched a series of raids near the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City and the Indonesian Hospital in the north.
According to the Beit Lahia municipality in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli aircraft bombed water wells and tanks that serve about 70,000 residents in the area, amid a water crisis caused by the Israeli siege.
