Tel Aviv: Thousands took to the streets in Israel’s Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for an end to the war in Gaza, a day after the government vowed to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City.
Demonstrators waved signs and held up pictures of hostages still held captive in the Palestinian territory as they called on the government to secure their release.
Speakers urge soldiers to refuse to serve in Gaza
According to the Times of Israel, during that protest, speakers urged soldiers to refuse to serve in Gaza and called on opposition heads as well as business, labor and academic leaders to bring the country to a standstill.
The mother of a combat officer said that soldiers are wasting away physically and mentally and are deprived of proper defensive equipment.
She says the Gaza City takeover plan “puts Israel on the sure path to a forever war that will cause the death of the hostages, the deaths of hundreds of soldiers, the destruction of Israel’s image.”
“Don’t agree to enter Gaza,” she says. “Refuse to participate in an overtly illegal war.”
Russia condemns Israel’s Gaza City occupation plan
Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday condemned Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, saying it risked worsening the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Implementing such plans “risks worsening the already dramatic situation in the Palestinian enclave, which shows all the signs of a humanitarian disaster”, said a ministry statement.
Gaza civil defence says 34 killed by Israeli fire
Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 34 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday, including more than a dozen civilians who were waiting to collect aid.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP nine people were killed and 181 wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on them as they gathered near a border crossing in northern Gaza that has been used for aid deliveries.
Six more people were killed and 30 wounded after Israeli troops targeted civilians assembling near an aid point in central Gaza, he said.
Strikes in central Gaza also resulted in multiple casualties, according to Bassal, while a drone attack near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed at least three people and wounded several others.
Thousands of Palestinians congregate daily near food distribution points in Gaza, including four managed by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Since launching in late May, its operations have been marred by almost-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect aid.
Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies into Gaza since the start of the war nearly two years ago have led to shortages of food and essential supplies, including medicine and fuel, which hospitals require to power their generators.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure to agree to a ceasefire to bring the territory’s more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants.