Al-Riyadh newspaper | Gaza is under bombardment again amid continuing violations of the truce

Three Palestinians, including a child, were martyred in a raid carried out by an Israeli drone on the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, bringing the number of martyrs who arrived in the Strip’s hospitals during the past 24 hours to four, in light of the occupation’s continued violations of the ceasefire agreement through aerial and artillery bombardment, bombing operations, and shooting in various areas of the Strip.

A source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reported that three Palestinians, including a child, were killed, and others were injured, as a result of a raid carried out by an Israeli drone that targeted the vicinity of the Wadi Al-Salqa Bridge on Al-Baraka Street in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

In the south of the Gaza Strip, the occupation army carried out bombing operations northeast of the city of Khan Yunis, in conjunction with firing from military vehicles towards the eastern areas of the city, while drones continued to fly intensively and at low altitudes in its airspace.

In the Central Governorate, the occupation forces opened fire north of the Nuseirat and Bureij camps, and also targeted, with artillery shelling and heavy fire from penetrating tanks, the areas near the Wadi Gaza Bridge.

For its part, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the Gaza Strip’s hospitals received 4 martyrs and 8 injured as a result of the Israeli aggression during the past 24 hours.

The Ministry explained that a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, in light of the inability of ambulance and civil defense crews to reach them due to the continued bombing and the seriousness of the field conditions.

According to the Ministry’s statistics, the number of martyrs since the ceasefire agreement came into effect on October 11 last year has risen to 1,045 martyrs, in addition to 3,380 injured, in addition to 786 recovery cases recorded.

The total toll of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,058 martyrs and 173,488 injuries.

The government media office in the Gaza Strip said that the Israeli occupation authorities committed 3,465 violations of the ongoing ceasefire agreement for the 260th day in a row.

The office stated in its statistical report that the violations resulted in 1,045 martyrs and the injury of 3,380 others, in addition to the arrest of 113 citizens during the agreement period.

He explained that the occupation continues to obstruct the flow of humanitarian aid, as it allowed the entry of only 55,539 trucks out of 156,000 trucks that were supposed to enter according to the understandings, with a low compliance rate that did not exceed 36%.

Regarding travel movement through the Rafah land crossing, the report indicated that the occupation obstructed the departure of thousands, and allowed only 8,016 passengers to travel out of 21,800 passengers who were supposed to be able to travel since the agreement to reopen the crossing, with a commitment rate of 36% as well. The office condemned the occupation’s systematic policy of targeting and exterminating the Palestinian people and the continuation of the killing operations without stopping, holding it fully responsible for the continued deterioration of the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

He called on the mediators and sponsors of the ceasefire agreement to intervene urgently and oblige the occupation to implement all provisions of the agreement, and to put an end to its continuing and documented violations.

The Hebrew newspaper “Israel Hayom” revealed that settlement movements were preparing a plan that it described as “ready for implementation”, which stipulates the establishment of about 100 strategic settlement points within Area A in the occupied West Bank, in a step that would bring about a radical change in the map of control in the region.

According to the newspaper, the plan was prepared by settlement movements, most notably the Union of Settlement Farms and the “Return to the Homeland” Forum, after months of field survey work, and it had already been presented to ministers and senior officials in the occupation government, including those close to Benjamin Netanyahu.

The plan aims to establish about 100 settlement points on what is called “Day of Orders,” within Area A, which is subject, according to the Oslo Accords, to full Palestinian civil and security control.

A settlement outpost in the northern West Bank

Settlers escalated settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, by establishing a new pastoral settlement outpost in the north of the West Bank, and rebuilding another outpost in the south of Hebron days after its evacuation, in steps that reflect the acceleration of settlement projects with direct support from the occupation government.

Settlers published a video clip documenting the establishment of a new pastoral settlement outpost called “Gil Moshe Farm,” near the “Marom Gilboa” settlement scheduled to be established in the coming months in the northern West Bank.

According to settlement platforms, the move comes with the declared support of the occupation government, and in coordination between the Samaria Settlements Council, the Amana settlement movement, and the occupation army, especially the Menashe Brigade, as part of a strategy based on integrating residential settlement with agriculture and grazing with the aim of imposing control on the open lands surrounding the settlements and preventing Palestinians from accessing or using them.

The crime of forced disappearance

For its part, the Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners confirmed that the Israeli occupation’s acknowledgment of the martyrdom of the young man Majdi Abu Arra from Tubas Governorate, a year and a half after his fate was forcibly hidden, reveals the escalation of the crime of forced disappearance.

In a statement, the Center considered this crime a grave violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

He stressed that what the martyr Abu Arra was subjected to represents a blatant example of the crime of enforced disappearance, which the occupation escalates its use against Palestinian detainees, by withholding any information about them and depriving their families of knowing their fate, before later surprising them by announcing their martyrdom while continuing to withhold their bodies.

He believes that this crime reflects a systematic policy adopted by the occupation forces to keep the families of detainees in a constant state of anxiety, waiting, and psychological suffering.

He said that the occupation uses forced disappearance as an additional means of collective punishment and revenge, which constitutes a clear violation of the most basic humanitarian and legal principles.

He pointed out that the crime of enforced disappearance has escalated significantly since the start of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, as the fate of large numbers of detainees and missing persons remains unknown.

He pointed out that the occupation refuses to provide any information regarding their places of detention or their health or legal conditions, which raises serious fears that they will be subjected to torture or martyrdom inside the detention centers.

He added that the continued detention of the body of the martyr Abu Arra after the announcement of his martyrdom represents an extension of the policy of punishment pursued by the occupation against the martyrs and their families, and affects human dignity even after his death.

The Center called on the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and all international human rights institutions to take urgent action to pressure the occupation to reveal the fate of all missing and forcibly disappeared persons, release the detained bodies of martyrs, and ensure that families are able to know the fate of their children.

He called for the opening of independent international investigations into the crimes of enforced disappearance committed by the occupation forces against Palestinians, and for those responsible to be held accountable as serious crimes that have no statute of limitations.

He stressed that the policy of forced disappearance has become one of the most dangerous tools used by the occupation against the Palestinians, and that the continued international silence regarding this crime encourages it to expand its scope.

Settlement plans in the West Bank

The occupation destroys murals of martyrs in Hebron