Israel-Palestine live: Thousands in state of panic as Israel continues to strike hospitals

No wounded Palestinians or dual nationals were evacuated on Wednesday from the Gaza Strip to Egypt via the Rafah crossing, a Palestinian official said.

The crossing remained closed because of Israel's refusal to approve the list of wounded who were to be evacuated, a Hamas official told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again rejected the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, as reports of a truce with Hamas continue to circulate.

"I'd like to put to rest all kinds of false rumours we're hearing from all kinds of directions, and reiterate one clear thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Israeli parliament has amended the country's counter-terrorism law to criminalise "consumption of terrorist publications" with a penalty of up to one year's imprisonment.

According to rights group Adalah, the new legislation criminalises “systematic and continuous consumption of publications of a terrorist organization under circumstances that indicate identification with the terrorist organisation."

"One of the most intrusive and draconian legislative measures ever passed by the Israeli Knesset which invades the realm of personal thoughts and beliefs and significantly amplifies state surveillance of social media use," Adalah said in a statement, adding that they would "petition the Supreme Court to challenge this law.”

The US said on Wednesday that the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza was closed because of an unspecified "security circumstance".

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US expects the crossing will be reopened at regular intervals.

The Rafah crossing has been used to get in much needed aid and to allow foreign nationals to depart.

Since 9 October, Israel has imposed a full siege on Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel, electricity and other necessities to the besieged enclave.

Belgium's deputy prime minister has called for sanctions to be applied against Israel over its continuous assault on the Gaza Strip.

"It is time for sanctions against Israel. The rain of bombs is inhumane," Petra De Sutter told Nieuwsblad newspaper.

“It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire."

She added that the European Union should immediately suspend its association agreement with Israel, which aims at better economic and political cooperation.

Qatari mediation on the possible release of hostages held by Hamas concerns 12 captives, "half of them Americans", a source close to Hamas told AFP in Gaza.

The release would come in exchange for "a three-day humanitarian truce".

Discussions are currently stalling "over the duration" of the truce and the inclusion in this agreement of "the north of the Gaza Strip, the scene of large-scale combat operations", said the source.

“Qatar is waiting for a response from the Israelis."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his country is seeking a humanitarian pause in Gaza to allow for the release of all hostages.

Ottawa previously called for a series of halts in the fighting, to allow aid into the enclave, but had stopped short of advocating a longer pause.

There's only one thing on everyone's mind in Gaza right now: how to secure access to food and water.

Even the never-ending bombing has become a fact of life as residents accept that there's no way of determining where the next Israeli air strike will hit.

Since 9 October, Israel has imposed a full siege on Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel, electricity and other necessities to the besieged enclave. 

After a month of relentless bombing, Palestinians have exhausted the resources they had, as generators fall quiet due to a lack of fuel and even emergency food supplies dry up.

The fear of death from air strikes has become secondary to the unavoidable necessity of eating.

'I can have a small amount of food to keep me going today, but there’s the constant worry of whether I will have food tomorrow'

- Gaza resident 

“Yes, I can have a small amount of food to keep me going today, but there’s the constant worry of whether I will have food tomorrow,” one resident of the Jabalia refugee camp, who asked not to be named, told Middle East Eye.

“I went to get dates, so I could eat one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening,” he added.

Most of those in Gaza are affected by the food shortage, which has particularly impacted the elderly, sick and young children. Supermarkets have been swept clean of all products, with videos shared online showing empty shelves.

Stores and bakeries have been repeatedly bombed by Israel since the start of the war.

“Even mosques, which had water, have been bombed. Water points and solar panels are all gone due to the bombing, too," the Jabalia resident explained, adding: "If we are not bombed to death, we are going to die of starvation. This is a huge fear; I don’t need to explain how painful that would be.

“During these times of crisis we are being forced to drink any water we can find, even if it’s not clean,” he said.

Read more: The fear of starvation and thirst sets in for Gaza's residents 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the Gaza Strip shows that there is something "clearly wrong" with Israel's military offensive. 

"There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields. But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong," Guterres told Reuters.

Palestinian officials say 10,569 people have now been killed, 40 percent of them children.

"It is also important to make Israel understand that it is against the interests of Israel to see every day the terrible image of the dramatic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people," Guterres said. "That doesn't help Israel in relation to the global public opinion."

Guterres compared the number of children being killed in Gaza with the toll in conflicts around the world that he reports on annually.

"Every year, the highest number of killings of children by any of the actors in all the conflicts that we witness is the maximum in the hundreds," Guterres said.

"We have in a few days in Gaza thousands and thousands of children killed, which means there is also something clearly wrong in the way military operations are being done," he said.

A few days ago, Hazem al-Fakhouri received a worrying call from lawyer Hassan Abadi informing him that he had visited his wife, writer Lama Khater, in an Israeli prison.

The news brought by the lawyer wasn’t good. Abadi's visit to the recently imprisoned Khater, 46, revealed the terrible treatment she, and other female prisoners, has endured in prison since the moment of her arrest until now. 

After her arrest from her home, a handcuffed and blindfolded Khater was transferred to the Kiryat Arba police station near Hebron. 

"There, she was threatened with rape by soldiers who told her, ‘We are 20 soldiers and we can do to you whatever we want. You are our prisoner of war,’” Abadi said.

But the threat was only the beginning. Khater was verbally abused and treated harshly, and, like other detainees, has had to endure full strip searches under the pretext of inspection. 

“For the first time when I visit female prisoners, they tell me that they are subjected to a starvation policy, meaning that the meals provided to them are very few and hardly enough to satisfy their hunger," Abadi said.

"Khater also told me that they sleep on the floor without mattresses and don’t have extra clothes or blankets.”

Read more: Palestinian writer 'threatened with rape' in Israeli prison

Issa Amro, a human rights defender based in Hebron, speaks to Middle East Eye about the surge in settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks. 

Israel has no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip or controlling it for “a long time”, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.

“We assess that our current operations are effective and successful and we’ll continue to push,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “It’s not unlimited or for ever.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the US broadcaster ABC on Monday that Israel would take responsibility for security in Gaza for an “indefinite period”.

“The language is vague here, and I don’t think that the full meaning of it has been thought out in specific terms," Yonatan Touval, an analyst at the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies (Mitvim), told Middle East Eye on Tuesday.

Israeli bombardment since last Tuesday night near Al-Quds hospital has cut all roads leading to it, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Wednesday.

"All roads to the hospital are closed. Medical teams are unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured persons," PRCS said on the social media platform X.

Al-Quds hospital, Gaza City's second-largest hospital, has faced mounting pressure from the Israeli army, which has threatened to bomb it.

PRCS previously said it received calls from Israel telling staff to leave it or face shelling.

 

Malaysia's prime minister has said that his country will not cut ties with Hamas and will “not punish” the group.

Malaysians should "unanimously back" the Palestinians' right to self-defence in regards to the Israeli occupation, Anwar Ibrahim said.

“We continue our relations with Hamas, before and now,” he said, speaking to the Malaysian parliament on Tuesday. “And we do not consider... Hamas as a terrorist organisation.”

The southeast Asian nation will not sever ties with Hamas because of US pressure, added Ibrahim.

“Palestine is colonised through apartheid, ethnic cleansing and now genocide. Hence, whatever happened is the legitimate right and struggle of the Palestinian people."

"I will not accept any threats,” he said, in reference to US attempts to pressure the country to align with Israel and condemn Hamas.

“This action is unilateral and not valid, because we as members of the United Nations only recognise decisions made by the UN Security Council,” he added.