Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Israeli forces have attacked the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, as indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas face new obstacles.
The doctors in bombed enclave said the Israeli military attacked another school housing displaced families on Wednesday in the Gaza City suburb of Sheikh Radwan.
The strike killed three Palestinians, including a child, and wounded several others.
The attack came shortly after an earlier attack on a residential home in Gaza City, killing a pregnant woman.
According to Al Jazeera's Hind Hudari, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, medics were able to save the baby but “lost the mother”.
“The situation is dire at every level in the Gaza Strip,” Houdari said.
“Elsewhere, a very famous Palestinian writer (Walaa Jumaa al-Ifranji) was killed along with her husband (Ahmed Saeed Salama) in an Israeli attack on their home south of Nuseirat refugee camp,” in central Gaza, she added.
An Israeli attack on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza also killed two people on Wednesday.
Separately, several Palestinians were killed and wounded in al-Mawasi, an area Israel declared a “safe zone” for people forced to flee their homes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where the military said it had struck a militant. of Hamas.
The Israeli army routinely attacks camps for displaced persons as well as schools converted into shelters, killing mostly women and children in their October genocide last year, which killed more than 45,000 Palestinians.
The military also attacks hospitals and medical facilities. In the besieged north, where Israeli forces launched a renewed ground offensive more than two months ago, one of Gaza's last partially functioning hospitals came under intense Israeli attack.
Israeli siege Kamal Advan Hospital has intensified over the past few days, and Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud reports that it has now been “rendered inoperable given all the constant attacks and the use of explosive devices”.
Gaza's health ministry said Israeli forces also continued to besiege two other medical facilities, which were barely operational, while encircling Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia.
The Israeli military forced officials at the Indonesian hospital to evacuate patients and staff on Tuesday and continued to operate near the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital. They also ordered the evacuation of that hospital, but officials there refused, citing risks to dozens of patients.
Palestinians have accused Israel of wanting to depopulate northern Gaza forever to create a buffer zone.
The Israeli attacks came as Palestinians in Gaza saw another bleak Christmas.
Pope Francis stigmatized the “extremely dire” humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for the release of Israeli prisoners held by Hamas in his traditional Christmas address at the Vatican.
“Let there be a cease-fire, let the hostages be released and help be given to the people weary of hunger and war,” he said.
Ceasefire negotiations are difficult
Meanwhile, Hamas and Israel traded blame on Wednesday for the failure to reach a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in recent days.
Hamas said Israel had set new conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on agreements already reached.
“The occupation imposed new conditions related to the withdrawal, cease-fire, prisoners and the return of the displaced, which delayed the achievement of the existing agreement,” Hamas said in a statement.
But Hamas said it was showing flexibility and talks, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, were moving in a serious direction.
Netanyahu blamed Hamas, saying the group “continues to lie, renege on agreements already reached and continues to create difficulties in negotiations.”
Israeli negotiators returned to Israel from Qatar on Tuesday evening for consultations on a deal after a significant week of talks, Netanyahu's office said on Tuesday.
The United States and the two Arab mediators have stepped up efforts to strike a deal in the past two weeks.
