Hopes for a brief ceasefire in southern Gaza to allow foreign passport holders to leave the besieged Palestinian territory and bring aid were dashed on Monday, as Israeli bombardment intensified ahead of an expected ground offensive.
Residents of Hamas-ruled Gaza said the night’s attacks were the heaviest so far in the nine-day conflict. He said many houses were destroyed and the death toll continued to rise.
Diplomatic efforts are underway to get aid to the region, which has endured sustained Israeli bombardment since an October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that killed 1,300 people – the most in the kingdom’s 75-year history. One bloody day.
Israel has imposed a full blockade and is preparing a ground offensive to enter Gaza and destroy Hamas, which has continued to fire rockets at Israel since its brief cross-border attack. Israeli army and tanks are already deployed on the border.
Officials in Gaza said Israeli strikes have so far killed at least 2,750 people, a quarter of them children, and injured nearly 10,000. An additional 1,000 people were missing and believed buried under the debris.
As the humanitarian crisis deepens, with shortages of food, fuel and water, hundreds of tons of aid from many countries are being diverted to Egypt for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah border. On hold pending agreement. cross.
Earlier on Monday, Egyptian security sources told Reuters that an agreement had been reached on opening the crossing to allow aid into the enclave.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement: “There is currently no ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for the expulsion of foreigners.”