In the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military is targeting eastern areas of Khan Younis and Gaza City with intense artillery fire, despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that took effect nearly a month ago. The shelling is targeting farms, homes and other civilian areas. It comes as a U.N. official warned aid groups are in a “race against time” to get food and other necessities into Gaza. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, Israeli authorities have rejected 23 requests from nine aid groups to bring in millions of urgently needed non-food items that remain stuck in Jordan, Egypt and Israel awaiting approval. That includes some 4,000 pallets of shelter supplies such as tents, bedding and blankets. This is Manal Salem, a Palestinian mother of seven whose family is displaced and living in a tattered tent in Khan Younis.
bq. Manal Salem: “Winter, we do not want to talk about winter, because the fears are very big. Our tents are completely worn out. We are unable; we do not know what to do. It is not just me. Most of the tents at the school are worn out. We just say, 'God have mercy on us for the winter.' As much as we used to pray for rain to come, now we pray that rain does not come, so that we do not struggle.”
Earlier today, Israel handed over the remains of 15 Palestinians, a day after Hamas returned the body of an Israeli American soldier. That brings the total number of Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza as part of the ceasefire to 285 — just a fraction of the bodies held by Israel.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution seeking a mandate of at least two years for an international stabilization force to be deployed in Gaza. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned in response that any such force must have “full international legitimacy.”