A Palestinian man inspects a house in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. (file)
A senior official from the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has underscored the need for a “comprehensive” agreement to end the ongoing Israeli aggression across the besieged Gaza Strip.
“Hamas and the resistance factions insist on reaching a comprehensive agreement and a full package to end the war and aggression, along with a roadmap for the day after,” political bureau member Bassem Naim was quoted as saying.
“There are desperate attempts ahead of (US President Donald) Trump’s visit to the region... to force through a partial deal that would return some Israeli captives in exchange for a limited number of days of food and water -- without any guarantees from any party to actually end the war,” he added.
The Palestinian resistance movement has consistently demanded that a truce deal must lead to an end to the Israeli aggression, a full Israeli withdrawal from the blockaded region and a surge in humanitarian aid.
Israel has already drawn widespread condemnation over its plans to expand its military offensive in Gaza.
UN rights chief Volker Turk voiced concerns Wednesday that Israel’s plans aim to create conditions threatening the “continued existence” of the Palestinians in Gaza.
“There is no reason to believe that doubling down on military strategies, which, for a year and eight months, have not led to a durable resolution ... will now succeed,” he said.
“Instead, expanding the offensive on Gaza will almost certainly cause further mass displacement, more deaths and injuries of innocent civilians, and the destruction of Gaza’s little remaining infrastructure.”
Madrid, Spain, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, and Slovenia, in a joint statement, said they “firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza.”
Hamas has said it was pointless to continue ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a “hunger war” on Gaza.
Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defense agency said the toll from an Israeli strike on Gaza City on Wednesday had risen to at least 33 killed and more than 80 injured, many of them children.
The agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that "civil defense crews, paramedics and volunteers transported at least 33 martyrs and more than 80 injured, about half of them children and some women, as a result of the Israeli air strike" in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City.
Footage from Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital showed wounded children crying on hospital beds while bodies covered in blankets arrived in ambulances.
A two-month ceasefire collapsed in March, with Israel resuming intense strikes and imposing a total aid blockade on the Palestinian territory.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa urged the world to put a stop to the “deliberate humanitarian crime” of famine, which he said was being perpetrated in Gaza.
“We appeal to the conscience of humanity. Do not let the children of Gaza starve to death,” he said.
