Gaza Bloodbath Under Truce

TEHRAN (Defapress) - The Israeli army killed six Palestinians, including a baby, on Friday at a school that was sheltering displaced people in Gaza City. The attack brought the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since the ceasefire to more than 400.

The Palestinian Civil Defence said in a statement that the occupying army opened fire on Gazans from behind the Yellow Line, killing several people and wounding others.

The Yellow Line refers to the area to which Israeli forces withdrew under the terms of the October ceasefire agreement. It covers 53 percent of Gaza and is physically marked with yellow concrete markers.

Dozens of people gathered at a Gaza City hospital to mourn the victims after the attack. Five body bags were seen outside the hospital, and a man was holding a baby wrapped in a white shroud.

“This is not a ceasefire, it is a bloodbath,” Nafiz al-Nader, who witnessed the attack, told AFP. The shelling began without warning on Friday night and targeted the school.

Friday’s killings are the latest in a series of violations of a ceasefire that is now in its third month, and mediators are trying to move it into a second phase. The first phase of the ceasefire called for an end to the exchange of fire between Hamas and Israel, an Israeli withdrawal to the Yellow Zone, and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which was hit by famine earlier this year due to Israel’s genocide.

The second phase of the ceasefire is supposed to lead to permanent peace in Gaza, but mediators must first resolve differences between Hamas and Israel on more sensitive issues. Israel wants Hamas to lay down its weapons and cede power. An international force is also to be deployed to stabilize Gaza, and Israel is to withdraw completely from Gaza.

To date, there is no clear agreement between the parties on how to bridge the gaps between Hamas and Israel on these issues. “Before foreign countries can make military commitments, the mission of the international stabilization force, which is a key part of the ceasefire plan, needs to be defined,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Every country we have talked to about running the Gaza Strip wants to know exactly what the mission and funding mechanism will be. Several countries that are acceptable to all parties are willing to participate in the form of an international peacekeeping force.”

Another important and noteworthy issue is that the Gaza ceasefire has become increasingly shaky. This is because all efforts to end the two-year Gaza war permanently have failed.

On the other hand, we see that Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani warned that further delays in implementing the second phase of the agreement would jeopardize the entire process.

70,925 Palestinians were martyred in the Gaza genocide by Israel, half of whom were women and children. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the number of victims is expected to increase as more bodies are pulled from the rubble.

Finally, we must mention the crucial issue that Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Watch have declared that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.