More than 8000 killed in Gaza; Hamas offers prisoner exchange

Palestinian Territories – AFP

More than 8000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza as Israel continues to pound the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israel has intensified its attacks despite UN calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, outrage across the Muslim world and desperate pleas from families of the 230 hostages to “bring them home”.

The ground operations have heightened fears that Israel’s other enemies — the Iran-allied “axis of resistance” forces in Lebanon as well as Syria, Iraq and Yemen — could get involved in the conflict.

Israel’s military said early Sunday that it had struck another 450 Hamas targets within the past 24 hours, and that it was increasing the number of ground forces in Gaza.

It added that two Israeli soldiers were wounded, one severely by a mortar shell.

Israel unleashed its massive attacks on October 7 after Hamas fighters stormed across the border, killing 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.

Panic and fear have surged inside Gaza, where over one million people are displaced, and where communications went dark for days after Israel cut internet lines, although connectivity had gradually returned early Sunday.

Inside Gaza, where petrol and diesel have virtually run out, donkey cart driver Raafat Najjar told AFP that “there are no cars, we transport (people) on carts as there’s no fuel.”

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Sunday that “thousands of people broke into several UNRWA warehouses and distribution centres in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies.

“This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza. People are scared, frustrated and desperate.”

– ‘Catastrophic consequences’ –

Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, voiced shock at the “intolerable level of human suffering” in Gaza.

“This is a catastrophic failing that the world must not tolerate.”

Hamas authorities reported Sunday that a “large number” of people were killed overnight in strikes on two refugee camps in northern Gaza.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said Israel was attacking “above the ground and below”, alluding to Hamas’s sprawling tunnel network.

Israeli fighter jets again dropped leaflets over Gaza City on Saturday, warning residents that the northern area was now a “battlefield” and they should “evacuate immediately”.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari reiterated that Palestinian civilians should go south “to a safer area where they can receive water, food and medicine”.

He vowed — after 84 aid truck were allowed to enter the territory in recent days — that “the humanitarian efforts to Gaza, led by Egypt and the United States, will be expanding”.

– Exchange of prisoners – 

Hamas’s armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said it was ready to release the hostages if Israel freed all the Palestinian prisoners it was holding.

Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, said the group stood ready to make an “immediate” exchange.

Netanyahu met representatives of hostage relatives on Saturday. He made no commitment to any exchange deal but assured the families Israel would “exhaust every option to bring them home”.

Ifat Kalderon, whose cousin Ofer Kalderon is believed to be held in Gaza along with members of his family, told AFP she supported the idea of a prisoner release in exchange for the hostages.

“Take them, we don’t need them here,” she said. “I want my family and all the hostages to come back home.”

– ‘Red lines crossed’ –

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned Sunday in a message on X, formerly Twitter, that Israel’s “crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action.

“Washington asks us to not do anything, but they keep giving widespread support to Israel. The US sent messages to the Axis of Resistance but received a clear response on the battlefield.”

Anger has flared across the region against Israel and its Western allies, including in countries Israel has diplomatic relations with.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Istanbul on Saturday, charged that “the main culprit behind the massacre unfolding in Gaza is the West”.