Israel hits Gaza City with new ground offensive

Israel has launched a new ground offensive in Gaza City as they seek to expand their operations across the region.

According to The New Arab on April 5th, the Israeli army has claimed that their troops are operating in the Shujaiya area “in order to expand the security zone”.

The civil defence agency reported that the latest round of Israeli strikes killed at least 30 people in Gaza and forced thousands more to flee the area.

Since the resumption of fighting by the Israeli military on March 18th, Gaza’s health ministry has claimed that 1,249 people have been killed bringing the death toll for the entire conflict to 50,609.

The second phase of the ceasefire fell through despite the fact that Hamas had assured Israel that they would release all further hostages.

Since the collapse of the ceasefire, Israel has enacted a series of military blockades on Gaza forcing parts of the civilian population into food poverty.

The intensity of the Israeli bombardments has forced the United Nations to scale back their staff in Gaza in order to protect their lives.

Israel has shown little sign of wanting to find a peace deal.

On April 1st, Amit Halevi, a member of the ruling Likud party in Israel claimed that he wanted to cleanse the Gaza Strip, he told Radio 103FM that “we want to occupy the territory to cleanse it of the enemy – otherwise, it will kill your children and kidnap your grandchildren again.”

Israel has vowed to apply maximum military pressure on Gaza, a sentiment that has been backed up by their latest offesnive in Gaza City.

Whilst Israel ramps up their attacks on Gaza, Hamas maintains that they wish for both sides to adhere to the ceasefire agreement that was first signed on January 19th however came to an end less than two months later on March 18th.

The New Arab, Maghrebi