Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the IDF is close to ending its operations in northern Gaza and is preparing to continue to other areas of the Gaza Strip. He also acknowledged the deaths of 51 Israeli soldiers since the start of hostilities in the Strip.
Over 50 Palestinians died in the bombings carried out by Israel this Friday. Palestinian sources said at least 18 people, including several children, were killed in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp, and it is feared that many are trapped under the rubble.
Over a dozen people also died in the Jabalia refugee camp, located in the north of the enclave, and another nine east of Rafah, in the south, on the border with Egypt.
Gaza authorities have already confirmed 11,500 deaths in the Strip, and stated that nearly 200 civilians died in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The Israeli army demanded the immediate evacuation of the Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin and arrested at least two members of the medical staff. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the IDF surrounded the hospital for several hours; the soldiers searched the ambulances around the complex.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki thanked the Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Edward Chaiban, and the organization’s special representative to the State of Palestine, Lucy Elmi, for their efforts in protecting Palestinian civilians, especially children, from Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Maliki also highlighted the need to talk about a ceasefire and not just about humanitarian truces to end the Israeli attacks, which he called as genocide.
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