The Israeli army has intensified attacks on hospitals as part of the new operation, which aims to displace the entire population of Gaza.
Originally published in The Cradle.
At least five Palestinian journalists and scores of civilians were killed by Israel in Gaza overnight, as Tel Aviv has intensified its airstrikes on tents housing displaced people and escalated attacks on hospitals in the strip.
The carnage comes after Israel announced the start of a new operation in Gaza – dubbed Gideon’s Chariots.
Within hours, journalists Abdul Rahman al-Abadilah, Aziz al-Hajjar, Ahmed al-Zainati, Khaled Abu Seif, and Nour Qandeel were killed in Israeli airstrikes on various parts of the Gaza Strip, along with members of their families.
According to Quds News Network (QNN), Hajjar, his wife, and their children were killed simultaneously. QNN also reports that Qandil, her husband, and their baby were killed together.
In southern Gaza’s coastal Al-Mawasi region, over 40 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting tents and buildings sheltering displaced civilians. Harrowing images from hospitals of the bodies of children, including some charred beyond recognition, flooded social media following the attack early on 18 May. The Al-Mawasi area, once considered a “safe-zone,” has been relentlessly bombarded since the start of the war.
As the bombardment continues, barely functioning hospitals are struggling to treat injured Palestinians who continue to arrive at their doors.
At least ten Israeli strikes hit the vicinity of north Gaza’s Al-Awda Hospital, destroying large parts of the facility, according to hospital director Mohammad Salha, who described the situation as “extremely critical” and said surgeries have been halted due to the inability of medical teams to reach the site.
The Indonesian Hospital in the north has also been under continuous bombardment since the early hours of Sunday. The hospital’s director Marwan Sultan said Israeli troops have surrounded the hospital, adding that soldiers and quadcopter drones are firing at anyone who moves near or in the hospital, including the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
"A state of panic and confusion prevails among patients, the wounded, and medical staff, severely hindering the provision of emergency medical care … The siege of the hospital is preventing the arrival of the wounded, amid escalating massacres. The occupation is intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals and force them out of service," the Health Ministry in Gaza said.
At least 125 people have been killed since dawn, according to Al-Jazeera.
Indirect ceasefire talks are taking place in Qatar. However, Reuters reports that “there has been no breakthrough,” two days after Israeli media said that no progress was being made in the negotiations.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to besiege the entirety of Gaza and prevent the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid.
Hamas official Bassem Naim said on 17 May that US envoy Steve Witkoff abandoned the deal involving the release of US-Israeli captive Edan Alexander. The envoy had pledged that Israel would lift the blockade after Alexander’s release, according to Naim.
“It was a deal made by Witkoff himself. [The US] didn’t violate the deal, they threw it in the trash,” he said.
Operation Gideon’s Chariots is expected to see the Israeli army displace the entire population of Gaza, confine them to a small piece of land in the south, and occupy large parts of the strip. According to several Israeli media reports, the plan will see all of Gaza captured and the population moved to an area between the Philadelphi Corridor and the newly established Morag axis.
In cooperation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump is reportedly working on a plan to ethnically cleanse up to a million Palestinians, ‘relocating’ them from Gaza to Libya. In exchange, the US would release billions of dollars of frozen funds to Libyan authorities.
On Saturday, Trump denied recent reports that there has been a rift between him and the Israeli premier.
“No, look, he’s got a tough situation. You have to remember, there was October 7 that everyone forgets. It was one of the most violent days in the history of the world, not the Middle East, the world, when you look at the tapes. Bibi, he’s an angry man, and he should be because of October 7, and he’s been hurt badly by that, but in another way, he’s been sort of helped because I think he’s fought hard and bravely,” Trump said.
Michael Li is Senior Counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
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