“What we are experiencing now is even worse than the Nakba of 1948,” said Ahmed Hamad, a Palestinian in Gaza City who has been displaced several times.
“The truth is, we live in a constant state of violence and displacement. Wherever we go, we face attacks. Death surrounds us everywhere.”
Palestinians walk through rubble along a road beside a clinic destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.Credit: AP
Palestinian health officials say the Israeli attacks have escalated since Trump started a visit on Tuesday to the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which many Palestinians had hoped he would use to push for a truce.
Attacks on Gaza on Wednesday killed at least 80 people, local health officials said.
Little has come of the indirect ceasefire talks.
Hamas says it is ready to free all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza in return for an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers interim truces, saying the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.
Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, in which about 1200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 52,900 Palestinians, according to local health officials. It has left Gaza on the brink of famine, aid groups and international agencies say.
A US-backed humanitarian organisation will start work in Gaza by the end of May under an aid distribution plan, but has asked Israel to let the United Nations and others resume deliveries to Palestinians now until it is set up.
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No humanitarian assistance has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation in Gaza.
Hamas said it had expected that aid would flow back into Gaza after it freed American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander on Monday from captivity in Gaza, according to what it said was an understanding reached with US officials.
“Failing to achieve these steps, and specially allowing humanitarian aid for our people, will cast negative shadows over efforts to conclude prisoner swap negotiation,” said Hamas.
Reuters
