BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- When the first rays of the sun of 2024 shine on the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the war-torn land is still filled with gunsmoke. The Israeli army continues to advance its military operations, and on the last day of 2023, more than 100 people were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
This is the scene after the Israeli airstrike in the Magazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 31, 2023. Xinhua News Agency.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrih, who holds a far-right political stance, has declared that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip should be encouraged to emigrate and that Jewish settlers should return to the area. The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) condemned Smotrichh's rhetoric to expel more than 2 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
"There is no New Year in the Gaza Strip".
On December 31, 2023, Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing sources from the health department of the Gaza Strip, reported that Israeli forces continued to bomb Gaza City in the northern part of the Gaza Strip that night, killing at least 48 people. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on Al-Aqsa University, west of Gaza City, killing 20 people who had taken refuge there.
At least 35 people have been killed in Israeli military operations in the central Gaza Strip, according to a number of people at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in the Maigazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on December 31, 2023. Xinhua News Agency.
The Israeli army, which had previously focused on attacking the northern part of the Gaza Strip, is now accelerating its military operations in the central and southern regions. Israeli forces raided several Hamas establishments in the southern Gaza Strip, including the Hamas intelligence headquarters.
Kamal Zainati, a Palestinian who has taken refuge in Mahwasi in the southern Gaza Strip, and his family sit around the fire. "We are in a lot of pain, we don't feel the New Year coming, for us, every day is the same," he said. ”
This is a Palestinian child photographed at a makeshift camp in Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 13, 2023. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abduljawad).
Kamal's relative, Ziad Zainati, fled from the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. As the new year arrives, Ziad is still reeling from the loss of his wife, brother and grandchildren.
Mahwasi is a "security zone" designated by the Israeli army. The small size of the land and the lack of living infrastructure make it difficult to accommodate a large population. UN agencies and international charities have issued a joint statement opposing the unilateral establishment of "safe zones".
Hamas slammed for ** remarks
Regarding the future prospects of the Gaza Strip, Smotrih told Israeli Army Radio on December 31 that Jewish settlers should return to the Gaza Strip and that Israel should "encourage" the Palestinian population to emigrate from the Gaza Strip.
This is a makeshift camp photographed on December 31, 2023, on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abduljawad).
According to Smotrich, Israel will work with the international community and neighboring Arab countries to help these refugees settle down in other countries in a "good, humane way."
The Gaza Strip borders Israel and Egypt and covers an area of about 360 square kilometers. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pushed for a unilateral withdrawal in 2005 from the Gaza Strip in 2005, ending decades of Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip. In 2007, when Hamas seized de facto control of the Gaza Strip by force, Israel began to impose a complete blockade on the area, strictly controlling the movement of people and goods.
Hamas issued a statement condemning Smotrichh's remarks as a "war crime" and saying that the people of the Gaza Strip "will stand firm in the face of all attempts to deport them from their homes." ”
According to the Associated Press, Israel** has so far not officially stated that it will expel the population of Gaza or allow Jewish settlers to move back to the Gaza Strip. After Smotrich's remarks, an unnamed ** from the Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement that Israel did not want to resettle the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.
However, according to the name, Israel's policy is to "allow those who want to leave to leave."