GAZA CITY, Palestine: Palestinian rescuers reported more than 103 people killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.
Aid to Gaza has been cut off since March 2, a tactic Israel has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, but the group insisted on Thursday that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was “the minimum requirement” for talks.
It also warned that Gaza was not “for sale” hours after US President Donald Trump, on a visit to the region, again floated taking over the territory and turning it into “a freedom zone”.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103.
Israel’s aid blockade preceded a resumption of military operations on March 18, ending a ceasefire that had largely halted hostilities since mid-January.
For weeks, UN agencies have warned that supplies of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicines are reaching new lows.
“Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination,” Human Rights Watch interim executive director Federico Borello said.
Gaza not ‘for sale’
Israel says the aid stoppage and military pressure are meant to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages seized during the October 2023 attack.
But senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the entry of aid into Gaza was “the minimum requirement for a conducive and constructive negotiation environment”.
“Access to food, water, and medicine is a fundamental human right — not a subject for negotiation,” he added.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.
But the United Nations on Thursday ruled out involvement with the initiative.
“As we’ve stated repeatedly, this particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
Trump said he wanted the United States to “get involved” in Gaza.
“I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good… let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” he said on the Qatar leg of a Gulf tour, adding he would be “proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone”.
The comments echoed an idea he floated in February for the United States to “take over” the devastated territory and redevelop it into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
Hamas official Naim said, “Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land — it is not real estate for sale on the open market”.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas — in remarks addressing a UN commemoration of the “Nakba”, the flight or expulsion of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 — warned against repeating the displacement of his people in Gaza.
The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.
The health ministry in the territory said 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,010. – Agencies
