Gaza: Israel will stop the war only “after the hostages are released”

Nothing seems to be able to stop the Israeli government. Israel will not end the war in the Gaza Strip until Hamas releases the hostages, Israel’s defense minister said in Washington on Monday after the UN Security Council voted for an “immediate ceasefire.”

“We have no moral right to stop the war while there are hostages in Gaza,” Yoav Gallant said before a meeting with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

This Monday, the Israeli army continued its military operations in the Gaza Strip and, in particular, around two hospitals in the cities of Gaza and Khan Younes.

Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the largest in the Palestinian territory, was the site of an eight-day operation that killed 170 “terrorists” and arrested nearly 500 people “linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” the Israeli military said. Video released by the army shows tanks in the courtyard, overturned cars, and broken building windows.

In al-Shifa, soldiers “eliminated terrorists hiding among the patients,” the Israeli army said Monday, assuring they would remain there until the “last” militant was found.

According to Doctors Without Borders, which cited its teams on Sunday evening, “airstrikes and intense fighting continued around the hospital, endangering patients, medical teams and people trapped inside with very little equipment.”

In Khan Younes, the intervention began on Sunday with the arrival of armored vehicles in the al-Amal area, where several hospital buildings are located. The Palestinian Red Crescent described the overnight evacuation of Al-Amal Hospital as difficult for its staff and patients.

According to the organization, two employees came under Israeli fire while trying to free their ambulance from piles of rubble; Only one of them was recovered, adds the company, which says it does not know the fate of the second. The military did not immediately respond to questions about this incident.

According to Israel, 20 terrorists were “liquidated”

“Over the past 24 hours, more than 20 terrorists were killed in close combat and airstrikes in the Al-Amal sector” and weapons, including rocket launchers, were discovered, the army said in a statement, adding that this contributed to “the evacuation of hundreds of people.” Gazans from the area and dozens of suspects have been questioned.”

However, nine patients with ten relatives remained in the medical staff building, as well as a displaced family with children, according to the Red Crescent, which indicates that on Sunday it also lost another volunteer, killed at dawn by Israeli fire while he was in Al-Amale.

Since the war against Hamas began in October, Israeli troops have carried out several operations in and around hospitals (already in Al-Shifa in November, in Al-Amal in February). They explain that they are looking for Palestinian militants there, while Hamas denies that they use hospitals as rear bases.

The Israeli General Staff explains that it is conducting “targeted and precise” operations, but witnesses describe a “hell” in the area, destroyed houses, corpses in the streets, men rounded up and forced to strip except for their underwear.

In total, airstrikes hit about fifty targets throughout the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the Israeli army also reported.