Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called on Hamas to release all hostages, stating that their detention has provided Israel with “excuses” to launch attacks on Gaza, as rescuers uncovered charred remains from an Israeli airstrike.
The violence has intensified, with Israeli airstrikes claiming the lives of at least 25 individuals throughout the besieged territory, while Germany, France, and Britain have urged Israel to lift its blockade on humanitarian assistance.
Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza on March 18, concluding a ceasefire that had temporarily curtailed hostilities and resulted in the release of 33 hostages from Gaza alongside roughly 1,800 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Discussions for a new ceasefire have not yet yielded any significant progress, and a Hamas delegation is presently in Cairo to engage in renewed talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
“I’m the one bearing the consequences, our people are the ones suffering, not Israel. My brother, just release them.”
“Each day brings new fatalities. Why? Because they (Hamas) refuse to release the American hostage,” Mr. Abbas remarked regarding Edan Alexander, who was reportedly included in a list of hostages that Israel recently requested to be freed, a proposal that Hamas denied.
“You sons of dogs, surrender what you have and release us from this” ordeal, he added, using a harsh Arabic insult directed at Hamas.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim criticized Mr. Abbas’s comments as “insulting”.
“Abbas persistently and suspiciously assigns blame for the crimes of the occupation and its ongoing aggression onto our people,” he stated.
The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, subsequently released footage claiming to show an Israeli hostage alive in a tunnel in Gaza. The individual identified himself as 48-year-old Omri Miran.
Relations between Mr. Abbas’s Fatah party and Hamas have been strained, marked by profound political and ideological rifts for nearly two decades.
Mr. Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have frequently accused Hamas of undermining Palestinian unity, while Hamas has criticized the former for collaborating with Israel and repressing dissent in the West Bank.
Mr. Abbas addressed a leadership council where he is anticipated to announce a successor this week, amid pressure from Western and Arab nations concerned about the Palestinian Authority’s capacity to maintain a viable long-term role in peace negotiations.
At least 11 individuals lost their lives in an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza.
‘Charred bodies’
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has persisted, with rescuers reporting that at least 25 individuals have died since dawn, including 11 in an assault on a school that had been repurposed as a shelter.
“The school was accommodating displaced individuals. The bombing triggered a massive fire, and several charred bodies have since been retrieved,” civil defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal explained, referring to the attack on Yaffa school located in Gaza City’s Al-Tuffa neighborhood.
An AFP reporter noted witnessing several bodies in white shrouds at Al-Shifa hospital’s morgue, as women mourned the loss of a child.
“All we desire is for the war to cease, so we can live like people in other parts of the world,” stated Khan Yunis resident Walid al-Najjar.
“We are a destitute, traumatized people – our lives are shattered.”
‘No tools’ to recover bodies
Tens of thousands of displaced Gazans have taken refuge in schools since the conflict erupted following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Aid organizations estimate that the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants have faced displacement at least once.
“We lack the essential tools and equipment to conduct effective rescue missions or recover the bodies of martyrs,” Mr. Bassal lamented.
Just yesterday, Israel’s military announced it had targeted around 40 “engineering vehicles,” claiming they were utilized for “terror purposes.”
Further casualties were reported in other areas of Gaza, including four people killed due to Israeli shelling of homes in eastern Gaza City, according to Mr. Bassal.
The military did not provide immediate comments regarding the latest airstrikes.
Since the resumption of Israel’s military campaign, at least 1,928 individuals have perished in Gaza, raising the overall death toll since the onset of the conflict to at least 51,305, as per the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The initial Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 individuals on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s tally based on official Israeli figures.
Germany, France, and Britain have urged Israel to lift its blockade on humanitarian assistance to Gaza, warning of “a severe risk of famine, disease outbreaks, and death.”
“We urge Israel to immediately facilitate a rapid and unobstructed flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza to address the needs of all civilians,” their foreign ministers stated in a joint declaration.
