GAZA STRIP: As Israel shelled Rafah on Wednesday in the midst of ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire and prisoner swap in Cairo and Doha, medical workers discovered a third mass grave within Al-Shifa hospital and a seventh mass grave throughout Gaza hospitals. 49 dead were recovered from the premises.
Israel has pushed tanks into Rafah, where Palestinian civilians are camped out close to the Egyptian border, despite protests from other countries. On Tuesday, Israel took control of the crossing, which serves as the main route for supplies to enter the beleaguered area.
The White House denounced the disruption of aid supplies, and a top US official subsequently said that Washington had put a hold on a bomb supply last week because Israel had not responded to concerns about its long-term Rafah operation, which was a threat.
On Wednesday, however, the Israeli military declared that it was reopening both the Erez gate and Kerem Shalom, a significant assistance crossing into Gaza. Yet, the Kerem Shalom crossing remained closed, according to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Upon witnessing at least a dozen dead wrapped in black plastic body bags in video footage from Al-Shifa hospital, the Israeli troops refrained from commenting immediately on the third mass burial.
Motassem Salah, the head of Al-Shifa’s emergency department, stood in front of the hospital’s ruins and said several of the bodies had deteriorated.
About thirty dead were discovered buried in two additional graves in the hospital courtyard last month, according to reports.
The World Health Organization reported that Al-Shifa was reduced to ashes following the Israeli assault in March, leaving behind a “empty shell” with numerous bodies.
Authorities in Gaza reported on Wednesday that medical personnel were still finding dead within the compound. According to the media office, 520 remains have been exhumed from “seven mass graves” that were discovered at three separate hospitals in Gaza in recent weeks.
The health ministry of the Hamas-run enclave reports that at least 34,844 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, have died since Israeli forces escalated their attacks in Gaza in October 2023.
Cairo negotiations are back in session
However, according to Egyptian state-affiliated media, negotiations to agree on a truce resumed in Cairo on Wednesday “in the presence of all parties.”
The most recent round of negotiations would be “decisive,” according to a top Hamas official.
Under the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the negotiations, the official told AFP that Hamas “insists on the rightful demands of its people and will not give up any of our people’s rights.”
It was his earlier warning that this would be Israel’s “last chance” to release the large number of inmates.
Nevertheless, after seizing control of the Rafah crossing, Israeli soldiers kept up their air and ground attacks in Gaza and Rafah.
Condemned incursion
In the meantime, a plea was made “for urgent international action to prevent Rafah from being invaded and a crime of genocide being committed” by Qatar, which is hosting leaders of Hamas and negotiating between the two sides.
Israel’s control of the Rafah crossing, according to a Palestinian analyst, may be an attempt to “sabotage the truce talks” or to establish new facts on the ground.
Following Hamas’ announcement that it had accepted a truce proposal, which Israel claimed was “far” from what its own negotiators had previously agreed to, Israel seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border.
The Rafah operation, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was “a very important step” in preventing Hamas from gaining a route that was necessary for establishing its influence.
Bomb shipments were halted
After Israel failed to answer Washington’s concerns over the Rafah incursion, which the US has vehemently condemned, the US administration “paused one shipment of weapons last week,” according to a senior official speaking on condition of anonymity hours later. According to the official, the package included more than 3,500 heavy-duty bombs.
It was the first time that President Joe Biden—whose administration is the main supplier of military support to Israel—had followed through on a warning he issued to Netanyahu back in April.
