The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched a new wave of aerial and artillery attacks on Gaza City in the northern part of the besieged strip, and Khan Younis in the south, on Wednesday, November 19, and Thursday, November 20.

The renewed offensive, which marks one of the deadliest Israeli assaults on the war-torn enclave since the fragile US-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10, left at least 34 people killed and dozens of others wounded.

Over half of the fatalities were children and women, according to hospital sources cited by Al Jazeera.

Israel claimed that it launched the aggression because Hamas opened fire on its troops in Khan Younis on Wednesday, although no Israeli soldier was injured in the alleged attack.

Hamas issued a statement later that day, denying the claim as “a flimsy and blatant attempt” by Israel to “justify its non-stop violations and crimes”.

The Palestinian resistance movement added that at least 300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire deal was sealed last month.

It also noted that Israel has continued to demolish and blow up houses across the Gaza Strip, while closing the Rafah border crossing.

Hamas considered the Israeli violations of the deal as a “flagrant defiance of the US and regional guarantors”, calling on the Trump administration “to fulfill its declared pledges, and to put an immediate and serious pressure to curb the Israeli occupation, and force it to respect the ceasefire and stop the aggression” on the Palestinian people.

Moreover, the Palestinian group urged mediators of the deal, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, to “fulfill their pledges” too, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement, and to oblige the “criminal occupation” to put an immediate end to its violations, which threatens the ceasefire process.

IOF committed another violation by expanding the “yellow zone”

Another Israeli violation of the deal was also reported on Thursday, after the IOF crossed the agreed upon withdrawal line in eastern Gaza City, expanding the so-called “yellow zone”.

Based on the ceasefire agreement, Israeli troops are only allowed to be deployed within the “yellow zone” and not beyond.

Gaza’s government media office pointed out that the IOF widened the zone by “shifting boundary markers roughly 300 meters into the neighborhoods of Ash-Shaaf, An-Nazzaz and Baghdad Street”. This in turn resulted in trapping dozens of families, who could not flee as Israeli tanks advanced.

The post Israeli massacres in Gaza continue despite ceasefire appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

From Peoples Dispatch via this RSS feed