At least 30 martyrs in Gaza since dawn, including senior Hamas leader
GAZA – At least 30 people were martyred in pre-dawn raids on Sunday, including senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil, as the Zionist occupation has intensified attacks across the besieged enclave, killing at least 634 Palestinians since shattering the ceasefire deal on Tuesday.
Salah al-Bardawil, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, was martyred along with his wife while praying in their tent shelter in Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian group.
“His blood, that of his wife and martyrs, will remain fuelling the battle of liberation and independence. The criminal enemy will not break our determination and will,” the group said in a statement.
Explosions echoed throughout the north, central and southern Gaza Strip early on Sunday, as the occupation planes hit several areas in what witnesses said was an escalation of the attack that began on Tuesday.
The occupation’s strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis have resulted, by far, in 30 Palestinian martyrs, including three municipal employees, medics said. Moreover, evacuation orders were issued for the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah.
The return to air strikes and ground operations that have devastated Gaza has drawn calls for a ceasefire from Arab and European countries. Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement calling on “Israel” to restore access for humanitarian aid.
Since March 2, the Zionist occupation has halted the entry of all lifesaving supplies, including food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas for 2.1 million people. Moreover, it has cut power to southern Gaza’s desalination plant, limiting access to clean water for 600,000 people.
Hamas said that the Zionist entity has broken the terms of the January ceasefire agreement by refusing to begin negotiations for an end to the war and a withdrawal of its troops from Gaza.
According to an analysis by the Guardian newspaper, a principal reason for “Israel” ditching the ceasefire plan in favour of a 30- to 60-day truce with no such endpoint is that “Israel’s” most senior policymakers feel not just empowered but even inspired by the new incumbent of the Oval Office.
Trump’s loud proposal to displace the entire population in Gaza so it can be turned into the “Riviera of the Middle East” has made the previously unspoken desire into a project that can be publicly discussed, the source said, adding that historians may well see the return of Trump to the White House as the inflection point in this current war.
Accordingly, Israel Katz called on Friday for the expulsion of Palestinian residents and the annexation of territories in Gaza “with increasing intensity”, using it as a pressure tactic against the Palestinian group Hamas amid stalled negotiations.
As the toll of martyrs climbed to 634 since Tuesday, Hamas said it is still willing to negotiate and was studying “bridging” proposals from U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, which aim to extend the ceasefire into April, beyond the holidays of Ramadan and Passover.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 49,747 Palestinians have been martyred and 113,213 wounded in the Zionist occupation’s genocidal war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office updated its toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
