'Stop the massacre': Israel pounding Gaza after announcement of limited resumption of humanitarian aid

Under international pressure for this blockade which is starving Gazans , something which even US President Donald Trump has expressed concern about, Benjamin Netanyahu's government announced its partial lifting on Sunday, a few hours after the army announced the launch of "large-scale ground operations" in the Palestinian territory.

Alongside this intensification of its military campaign, Israel is holding indirect talks for a ceasefire with Hamas, whose attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggered the war in the Palestinian territory.

The local Civil Defense announced on Monday the death of 22 people in Israeli bombardments , reporting "violent airstrikes in Khan Younis, particularly around Nasser Hospital" in the south of the territory.

Witnesses told AFP that fighting had taken place near the heavily damaged health facility. One of them, Raed, also reported an intervention by Israeli special forces at the home of a Palestinian fighter, who was found dead.

In the northern Gaza Strip, at least two people died in a drone strike on a tent housing displaced people, according to the emergency organization.

"A number of martyrs were killed by the occupation forces in the courtyard of the Indonesian hospital," surrounded by Israeli troops for several days in Beit Lahia, "and no one has been able to recover them," his spokesman, Mahmoud Bassal, also told AFP.

Israel accuses Hamas of using civilian buildings, such as hospitals, for military purposes, something the Palestinian Islamist movement denies.

"Basic quantity of food"

Mr. Netanyahu announced Sunday evening that Israel would allow the entry of "a basic quantity of food intended for the population, in order to avoid the development of famine in the Gaza Strip."

The Israeli authorities are expected to detail later today the terms of this resumption of aid, which has been insistently requested internationally for days.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right figure, accused the Prime Minister on Monday of making a "serious mistake" by giving Hamas "oxygen."

Mr. Netanyahu also said on Sunday that he was open to an agreement including the end of the military offensive, but on the condition of the " exile" of Hamas and its "disarmament."

So far, Hamas has rejected such demands, saying it is ready to release all hostages abducted on October 7 as part of a comprehensive agreement ending the war and providing for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations reaffirmed on Sunday that the movement was willing "to release all Israeli hostages at once, provided that a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire agreement is reached ," adding that Israel, for its part, wants to recover the hostages "in one or two waves in exchange for a temporary truce."

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said the army would "provide room for maneuver at the political level to advance any hostage agreement."

"Stop the massacre"

Israel, which resumed military operations in Gaza on March 18, breaking a two-month truce, said this weekend that it was expanding and intensifying its offensive in Gaza, after the government announced in early May a plan to "conquer" Gaza, which would see most of its 2.4 million inhabitants relocated to the far south of the territory.

But international pressure is mounting on Israel to silence the guns: "We must stop the massacre in Gaza," said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez this weekend. "Enough is enough," echoed Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

"We are in favor of an end to the conflict, of a ceasefire. We don't want people to suffer as they have, and we blame Hamas for that, but the fact remains that they are suffering ," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after speaking with Netanyahu on Saturday for the second time in three days.

The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side , mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.

Israeli reprisals have left at least 53,339 dead in Gaza , mostly civilians, according to the latest data from Hamas's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.