Nearly four months on the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the Palestinian resistance is still standing firm against the Zionist occupation in both battlefield and politics.
On the day 119th on Friday, the Palestinian resistance said it was still studying a proposal on a potential ceasefire in Gaza, amid harsh conditions in the besieged enclave and as the Israeli occupation threatened to attack an area considered to be a safe zone.
Officials from the Hamas said that the resistance movement is still studying the ceasefire proposal and that it will respond once the assessment of the plan is finalized.
Hamas Spokesman in Lebanon Walid Al-Kilani announced on Friday that the movement’s leadership is still mulling the proposals presented after the Paris meeting, revealing that it will respond to them in the coming hours.
Earlier, Osama Hamdan, the movement’s top representative in Lebanon denied reports on a ceasefire on Saturday, warning that Hebrew media have been propagating that a ceasefire deal is imminent in a bid to press the Palestinian resistance and to impose the Israeli conditions.
Hamdan told Al-Manar on Wednesday that such Israeli attempts are futile, noting that Hamas is in full coordination with other Palestinian resistance groups over the issue.
Heroic Battles
Elsewhere in the battlefield, the Palestinian resistance groups have been keeping up heroic confrontations, a day after the occupation army pulled out its 5th reservist brigade from the Gaza Strip.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced on Friday its fighters targeted an Israeli troop carrier and a Merkava tank west of Khan Younis with Yassine-105 shells.
The resistance group released on Thursday a footage showing Al-Qassam fighters engaging with Israeli occupation forces in two neighborhoods in western Gaza city, Tal Al-Hawa and Sheikh Radwan.
Palestinian media reported that the occupation army retreated in several fronts across the besieged enclave including in northwestern Gaza city and in Khan Younis.
Death Toll and Israeli Threats
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in the war-torn enclave announced on Friday that at least 27,131 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli attacks since October 7, while another 66,287 have been wounded.
It added that 112 Palestinians have been killed and 148 injured during the past 24 hours.
About 1.9 million displaced Palestinians fear a new Israeli military onslaught after the Israeli occupation defense minister pledged to attack an area once described as a “safe zone”.
Palestinian media reported that Gazans expressed fear a ground assault after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said occupation troops would now turn their focus to Rafah.
“I am telling you here, we are completing the mission in Khan Younis and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate everyone there,” Gallant said.
Rafah a ‘Pressure Cooker of Despair’
For its part, the UN’s humanitarian office has voiced concern about the condition in Khan Younis, which have forced more people to flee to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. It described the border town as a “pressure cooker of despair”.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians live in tents in camps near the Rafah border crossing despite the very cold weather and shortage of food, water, and fuel. pic.twitter.com/otSsSyxb9E
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 2, 2024
“I want to emphasize our deep concern about the escalation of hostilities in Khan Younis, which has resulted in an increase in the number of internally displaced people seeking refuge in Rafah in recent days,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Thousands of Palestinians have continued to flee to the south, which is already hosting over half the population of some 2.3 million people. … Rafah is a pressure cooker of despair, and we fear for what comes next.”
Source: Al-Manar English Website
