Occupation escalates attacks and blockade on Gaza in preparation for ground incursion
The Zionist occupation intensified airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 58 Palestinians in new overnight attacks, according to local health authorities, amid reports of ground incursion preparations on the besieged enclave.
Since Thursday, more than 370 Gazans have been martyred in “Israeli” strikes, in one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since the occupation shattered the truce in March. This came as U.S. President Donald Trump ended his Middle East tour on Friday, yet with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire.
“Since midnight, we have received 58 martyrs, while a large number of victims remain under the rubble. The situation inside the hospital is catastrophic,” said the director of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, Marwan Al-Sultan.
The Zionist occupation forces announced late Friday that it is entering the initial stage of a major offensive against the Gaza Strip called “Gideon Chariots”, which aims “to conquer Gaza” and maintain a prolonged military presence there.
In the meantime, the occupation has continued blocking medical and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza for 77 days, with United Nations experts warning that famine looms in the Strip and UN aid chief Tom Fletcher urging the Security Council to “prevent genocide”.
According to the World Food Program (WFP), food stocks had already run out by April 2024, and conditions have worsened significantly since March. Even modest charity kitchens that once served over a million meals daily have now ceased operations. Moreover, the WFP reported that the prices of the few remaining food items have surged by over 1,400%.
Trump on Friday acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries, as international pressure grows on “Israel” to resume ceasefire talks and end its blockade of Gaza.
Meanwhile, seven European countries said they would “not stay silent” in response to “Israeli” attacks on the Gaza Strip.
“We will not be silent in front of the man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza. More than 50.000 men, women, and children have lost their lives,” Iceland, Luxembourg, Spain, Slovenia, Malta, Spain and Norway said in a statement.
Warning that many more people could starve to death in the coming days because of the “Israeli” blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza, they called on the Zionist entity to “immediately reverse its current policy, refrain from further military operations and fully lift the blockade, ensuring safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian aid to be distributed throughout the Gaza Strip by international humanitarian actors and according to humanitarian principles.”
The countries also condemned the occupation’s escalation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including illegal settler violence, the expansion of illegal settlements and intensified military operations.
“Forced displacement or the expulsion of the Palestinian people, by any means, is unacceptable and would constitute a breach of international law. We reject any such plans or attempts at demographic change. We must assume the responsibility to stop this devastation,” the statement added.
The Zionist occupation’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,119 Palestinians and wounded 120,214, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
