Rumors abounded yesterday that a ceasefire, possibly brokered by U.S. envoy Hady Amr who arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday, might be in the offing, but the fighting continued overnight without letup. Barak Ravid reported in Axios yesterday that Israeli officials are concerned the U.S. intervention will lead to increased pressure to stop their military operation. Ahead of Amr’s visit, Secretary of State Tony Blinken spoke with both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — the first call between President Abbas and a cabinet-level official since Biden assumed office.
Netanyahu was hiding none of his bloodlust: “Hamas leaders think they can escape my grasp. They cannot escape. We can reach them everywhere.”
The Israeli bombers have now demolished four high-rise buildings, claiming they are targeting Hamas. While some were residential, leaving hundreds of families homeless, the most recent was an office building which housed the AP office and other media, including Al Jazeera. Israel gave them an hour’s notice to vacate, and again claimed Hamas had an office in the building. We will see if the Biden administration accepts the feeble excuse that Hamas had an office in the building.
A refugee camp was bombed. One house was demolished with ten people killed — two women and eight children, all from the same family.
Latest count was 139 Palestinians dead and 1,330 injured, while 10 Israelis have died,
In Gaza, the health system, already strained by the coronavirus pandemic, is on the edge of collapse. “Before the military attacks, we had major shortages and could barely manage with the second (virus) wave,” said Gaza Health Ministry official Abdelatif al-Hajj by phone as bombs thundered in the background, AP reported (not long before the Israelis destroyed their offices). “Now casualties are coming from all directions, really critical casualties. I fear a total collapse.” Gaza health authorities had counted 105,700 people infected with the virus and 976 deaths.