Despite the recovery of talks for a new ceasefire, the Israeli strikes still kill in the Gaza Strip. On Saturday, March 29, the Hamas Ministry of Health in Palestinian territory said that 921 people had been killed since the resumption of Israeli bombings on March 18, including 25 in the last twenty-four hours.
The ministry adds in a press release that the total balance sheet since the start of the war, launched by the attack on Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, now rises to 50,277 dead in the Gaza Strip.
Ambulances shots
In addition, the Israeli army acknowledged on Saturday that it had shot ambulances in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, March 23, after judging these “suspects” vehicles, Hamas denouncing “a war crime” that cost a rescuer, while 14 others are missing. A “preliminary investigation has established that some of the suspicious vehicles were ambulances and fire trucks,” said the army, without further details, denouncing “the repeated use by terrorist organizations of the Gaza of Ambulances for terrorist purposes”.
In the Gaza Strip, since March 18, “ambulances have been shot” and “rescuers were killed,” said a statement published on Friday by the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher. The Red Crescent said it was new to a team of nine rescuers since Sunday.
Negotiations in progress
Thursday, March 27, Palestinian sources close to Hamas reported ongoing negotiations Thursday in Doha between the Islamist movement and Egyptian mediators and Qataris to revive a cease-fire and a Palestinian prisoner exchange agreement for hostages in Gaza. The discussions would focus on the possibility of setting up a truce during Eid al-Fitr, Muslim celebration marking the end of Ramadan and likely to start on Sunday and Jewish Passover (from April 12 to 19), as well as on the entry of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. Confirming the negotiations, another Palestinian source close to Hamas said that, despite the discussions, “no breakthrough” had been made so far.
The indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel, led by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, with a view to extending the truce that came into force on January 19, have stalled since March 1 of the first phase of the cease-fire allowing the return of 33 Israeli hostages (including eight in coffins) in Gaza, in exchange for the Liberation by Israel Palestinian prisoners.