Israel moved to the stage of destroying homes in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to increase pressure on the “Jihad” movement, in order to respond to the cease-fire proposal.
The Israeli air force bombed several homes at dawn and this morning (Saturday), in different areas in the Strip. The planes destroyed a house belonging to the father of the leader of the “Quds Brigades”, who was previously assassinated by Israel, Baha Abu al-Ata, in the Shuja’iya neighborhood, and a house for the Muhanna family in the Yarmouk area, before destroying a house in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, then a fourth house in Beit Hanoun in the north.
The Israeli planes fire warning missiles in order to leave the homes and then destroy them, in a policy used in the previous long confrontations, in order to increase the pressure on the Palestinians, and inflict the greatest amount of destruction on the Strip.
Hamas said, through its spokesman, Hazem Qassem, that the occupation’s escalation of its barbaric aggression by bombing the homes of the safe in the Gaza Strip, killing citizens in the Balata camp in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, and spreading its terror throughout the Palestinian land, is Nazi behavior.
Egypt is racing against time
The attack on the homes came at the beginning of the fifth day of the aggression, after Egypt’s attempt to establish a truce failed on Friday, while discussions continue on Saturday for an expected declaration of a cease-fire.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Egypt is pressing and racing against time to put in place a “satisfactory agreement” that will end the current round of escalation, before reaching the day of the Israeli flags march in Jerusalem at the end of this week, which could lead to a “major escalation” that could Hamas enters the front line.
On Friday, Egypt proposed an immediate mutual cease-fire, in order to allow for negotiations. According to Israeli sources, Israel agreed, while Al-Jihad, which insisted on its request, refused Israel’s commitment to stop the assassinations, which affected only 6 of the most prominent leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades, the last of whom was Iyad Al-Hassani, who was assassinated on Friday.
The “Quds Brigades” undertake to respond
The assassination of Al-Hassani represented the biggest loss for the “Quds Brigades” as the most important official to be assassinated in this confrontation, especially since he had a long military career spanning more than 3 decades, during which he received many missions, the last of which was a member of the military council of the military group, and in charge of its operations unit. He is responsible for coordinating with the Qassam leadership, the military arm of Hamas, in addition to his extended relations with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran.
With the assassination of Al-Hassani, the number of those killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip rose to 33, including 6 children and 3 women, and 147 civilians were wounded.
The Al-Quds Brigades and the Joint Operations Room pledged to respond to the assassination of Al-Hassani, and said that “the response to the assassination of the leader Al-Hassani is inevitable,” and fired rockets at the Gaza border late Friday and today.
Claims to put pressure on Israel
Today, the Israeli army said that 1,099 missiles were launched since the beginning of the current round of escalation, of which 865 crossed the border fence, and 340 were intercepted according to the interception policy, while 325 targets were attacked in Gaza.
--While Israel is preparing for the possibility of prolonging the battle, warning Hamas against entering the line, the secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Hussein Al-Sheikh, called on the United States of America, the international community and our Arab brothers to “pressure the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately stop the aggression against our people.” Palestinians, in the Gaza Strip, and the rest of the country.
Al-Sheikh also called on international and humanitarian institutions to “intervene quickly to open the crossings with the Gaza Strip, and transfer the injured for treatment.”
In the context, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that Israel had killed two Palestinians in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, in the northern West Bank.
And the ministry announced, “The martyrdom of Sa’ed Jihad Shaker Mesha, 32, and Adnan Wasim Yousef Al-Araj, 19, with live bullets to the head during the occupation’s aggression against Balata camp in Nablus, in addition to 3 stable injuries to the neck, abdomen and thigh.”
The ministry said that “the death toll rose from the beginning of this year until Saturday morning in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to 150, including 33 martyrs in the ongoing Israeli aggression since last Tuesday on Gaza.”
“Arabists” infiltrated the camp with the aim of assassinating one of the wanted men, but they failed to do so.
Crossing red lines
In addition, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh accused the Israeli occupation authorities of “crossing all red lines, by insisting on a policy of killing and incursions into our cities, villages and camps, the latest of which was the new crime committed by the occupation army in Balata camp east of Nablus this morning, which led to The martyrdom of two young men, the injury of others, and the continuous aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip for the fifth day in a row.
Abu Rudeineh held the Israeli government responsible for “these serious crimes it is committing in all the Palestinian territories, which will have great repercussions on the stability of the entire region.”
He said that the US administration bears responsibility for the deterioration of the situation, as a result of the silence on the Israeli crimes, and the lack of immediate intervention to stop them, which made Israel persist in its aggression against our people.
He added, “The Palestinian people will not allow the continuation of this Israeli policy against their land and sanctities, and will remain steadfast on their land, regardless of the pressures.”
