The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Wednesday that the Israeli army killed 118 civilians and wounded 163 in 11 massacres across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. The death toll from the Israeli aggression on Gaza has risen to 29,313, with 69,333 injuries since 7 October 2023.
Meanwhile, Egypt is hosting urgent meetings on the Gaza war, as the US envoy to the Middle East, Brett McGurk, met with the head of the Egyptian intelligence service, Abbas Kamel, and other officials on Wednesday. They discussed the Israeli plans to invade Rafah, a city near the border with Egypt.
On Tuesday, the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Cairo with a delegation from his movement, amid stalled negotiations to end the war in Gaza. It was expected that the Egyptian officials would present the proposal that McGurk brought to the Hamas leadership.
In a related development, the Israeli minister of national security, Itamar Ben Gvir, reaffirmed his opposition to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza. He was not alone in this stance. He also opposed the police dispersing the protesters who were against the entry of aid into Gaza.
He repeated this position on Wednesday in an interview with the Hebrew Radio North, saying that there should be no talks or aid for Hamas. He told the interviewer: “If you ask me, the answer is that we should not negotiate with them, but rather we should kill them, stop fuel, and close the crossings for humanitarian aid.”
Ben Gvir said that the entry of aid should depend on the access to Israeli prisoners held by Hamas.
On the ground, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that its fighters had attacked an Israeli special force inside a house with an RPG and machine guns, killing four soldiers and wounding the rest in the Al-Hawoz area, west of Khan Yunis.
The Al-Qassam Brigades also said that they had hit a group of Israeli soldiers in a house with an anti-fortified TBG shell, killing three soldiers and forcing an Israeli helicopter to evacuate them north of the Al-Amal neighborhood, west of Khan Yunis.
In addition, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, said that they had shelled the Israeli forces in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City. They also said that they had destroyed two Israeli military vehicles with “Thaqib” barrel bombs in the same neighbourhood.
