Local sources reported that the Israeli occupation army carried out demolition operations on Saturday night in the eastern part of the Shuja'iyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, while continuing its artillery shelling in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern governorate.
The two areas are located east of the “yellow line” within the areas controlled by the Israeli occupation army according to the agreement, as this line, according to army estimates, covers more than 50% of the area of the sector.
For his part, Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal confirmed that the Israeli occupation army continues its bombing and demolition operations in the areas under its control, adding: “Throughout the night, the occupation detonates booby-trapped robots and demolishes residential buildings east of the Shuja’iyya neighborhood, in addition to bombing operations by warplanes and artillery vehicles.”
Basal reported that civil defense teams are continuing to "recover bodies from various areas of the sector from which the army withdrew under the agreement, or from under the rubble of destroyed houses."
In addition, crews are continuing to transfer bodies from makeshift graves created during the war to legal and official cemeteries, he said.
Speaking, Basal said, “The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic, unbearable for Palestinians and indescribable.” He continued, elaborating: “Everything is catastrophic. Hunger is ongoing, and the entry of aid trucks has not changed, except for the entry of trucks carrying goods loaded with non-essential fruits and foodstuffs such as nuts.”
He pointed out that non-essential food items have filled the markets, while the Palestinian who lost his source of income during the war is unable to buy them. He described the situation that the Palestinians in Gaza have reached despite the ceasefire as a "tragedy," condemning Israel's boasting about the entry of aid trucks, estimating that what enters does not reach 24% of what was agreed upon.
Water and food
In a related context, UNICEF spokeswoman Tess Ingram said that more than one million children in Gaza still need water and food, and that thousands of children go to bed hungry every night, despite the ceasefire agreement, while 650,000 children need to return to their schools.
In an interview, Ingram explained that the ceasefire was "good news" because it meant an end to the daily bombing that was killing children, but it "is not enough on its own to end hunger or ensure that families have access to safe drinking water."
She added: "Families in Gaza are still struggling daily to survive, and the infrastructure that used to provide water and medical care for children has been severely damaged, making access to these basic services extremely difficult."
A UNICEF spokesperson said that the amount of aid entering the sector after the ceasefire began saw a slight increase during the first two weeks, but it "is still completely inadequate," explaining that the quantities that arrived are still below the levels that were entering before the outbreak of the war.
She continued: "We need a large and rapid flow of aid, because the risks are still high, with children facing the risk of death from malnutrition, hypothermia, or preventable diseases."
Ingram called on Israeli authorities to open all crossings into Gaza to enable aid to reach a wide audience, noting that many areas remain deprived of any effective humanitarian support.
