Israel bombs a hospital as part of a plan to occupy Gaza City

BarcelonaThe Israeli army has intensified its bombing campaign against Gaza City. This morning, it attacked Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City with drones, as part of a plan announced yesterday by the army spokesman to force the population to move to the south of the Strip. The attack on this medical center left seven dead, adding to the more than twenty reported since this morning throughout the enclave. At least thirteen have occurred at food distribution points managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Several journalists on the ground report that bombing has been constant since Saturday in Gaza City, and has been particularly severe in the Zeitoun neighborhood, one of the most densely populated and which has welcomed many families previously expelled from other areas. Explosions occurred at residential buildings, government facilities, and public facilities, confirmed by the Israeli army, which claims to have destroyed dozens of "terrorist targets."

The operation in the Zeitoun neighborhood, which is being reported in the Israeli media, is the preliminary step to the planned operation to militarily occupy the entire city of Gaza, which currently still hosts one million Palestinians, an operation which was approved last week by the Israeli executive. Along the same lines, this Saturday the army spokesman announced that preparations are underway to forcibly evacuate Palestinians from "combat zones" and force them to move to the southern Gaza Strip.

25 detained in Israel

Meanwhile, Israel woke up this morning to find the country's main highway, connecting Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, blocked. It was one of the locations where hundreds of people gathered as part of a general strike demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the hostages from Benjamin Netanyahu's government. At least 25 people were arrested for causing "public disturbances," according to Israeli police.

The protesters are responding to the call of the October Council and the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families, two organizations representing families of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. They are protesting the government's decision to expand the war in the Strip with a campaign to conquer Gaza City, rather than prioritizing a quick settlement that would bring their families home.

In a statement that makes no mention of the Gaza population or the hunger campaign it is enduring, the families of the hostages assert that they are "forced to escalate" their struggle to return them home, and that they had planned to camp at the closest point to the Strip as an act of protest. "We are losing them, and if we don't bring them back now, we will lose them forever," the statement reads.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog today called "international leaders and media" "hypocrites" and called on them to pressure the Islamist group Hamas to agree to the release of all Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip before signing any agreement. "Stop being hypocrites. Put pressure [...] and tell Hamas that there will be no agreement or anything until they release them," Herzog said this morning during a visit to Tel Aviv's so-called Hostages Square on the occasion of the national strike.