KUALA LUMPUR – Israel has intensified its siege on Gaza, including neighbourhoods in the south, hospitals, and refugee camps, after the week-long truce with Hamas collapsed.
While more than 240 Palestinians have been killed since the resumption of attacks, Hamas deputy political bureau chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera that the prisoner swap talks are finished until the onslaught ends.
On the other hand, the families of the remaining captives held by Hamas staged a protest in Tel Aviv after Israeli authorities withdrew their Mossad negotiators from the mediation talks in Qatar.
Meanwhile, International Committee of the Red Cross director-general Robert Mardini, who is at the COP28 UN summit in Dubai, said the escalating violence makes it difficult to get lifesaving aid into Gaza.
“We don’t have precise reports, but what I can say is that the resumption of fighting was intense again. It’s a new layer of disruption coming on top of the massive, unparalleled destruction of critical infrastructure, civilian houses, and neighbourhoods.
“Gaza is rubble and in shambles. Everything in Gaza is at breaking point,” he told Reuters.
He added that people in Gaza are “living in constant fear of violent death” and are faced with food and water scarcity.
Israel’s military said it struck 400 militant targets and killed an unspecified number of Hamas fighters in the past 24 hours.
The truce, which started on November 24 and was extended twice, saw Israeli women and children and foreign hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
At least 15,207 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll stands at about 1,200. – December 3, 2023