The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces, a coalition of Palestinian groups including Hamas, has called a general strike across the Palestinian Territories for Monday in protest against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The group said that local and international efforts should be united to end the war, and that the strike is intended to raise awareness of the killing of civilians.
The UN has warned that aid stocks in Gaza are decreasing as a result of Israel’s blockade of the enclave. “It’s been over a month since the state of Israel banned the entry of aid and commercial supplies into Gaza,” the UN’s relief agency for Palestinians said yesterday. “Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate.”
After the expiry of a six-week truce, Israel blocked the entry of aid on March 2 and resumed hostilities on March 18. Since then, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, taking the death toll to more than 50,600. Fifteen of those were Palestinian medical workers shot dead by Israel, with the Israeli military saying the medics’ vehicles had been “advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals.
However, footage of the incident taken from one of the medics’ phones appeared to contradict that version of events, showing clearly marked ambulances and medical workers in high visibility jackets. The crews do not appear to be acting unusually or in a threatening manner as three medics emerge and walk towards the ambulance.
Eight Red Crescent personnel, six civil defence workers and a UN employee were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by Israeli troops in Tel Al Sultan, a district in the city of Rafah.
Younes Al Khatib, the head of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, called for an independent investigation. “We don’t trust any of the army investigations,” he told a UN briefing on Friday.
On Saturday, an Israeli military official told journalists that the army’s initial account of the incident was “mistaken”, and that a military inquiry would be presented to the chief of the general staff the following day.
At least 39 people were reportedly killed across Gaza on Saturday, including more than a dozen women and children. Israeli strikes on Khan Younis killed 19, eight were killed in Deir Al Balah, three in Jabalia and 12 in Gaza city’s Zeitoun and Al Tuffah neighbourhoods, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron was due to land in Cairo on Sunday evening for talks on the situation in Gaza with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
Mr Macron was also expected to head to El Arish, 50km west of the Gaza Strip, to meet humanitarian and security workers.
