By Tass
Copyright tass
CAIRO, September 16. /TASS/. Hamas has called on the international community to take measures to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We call on Arab and Muslim countries and all of the world nations to undertake a historical and moral responsibility for the Gaza Strip and its residents who are being massacred and take urgent measures to contain Netanyahu and his government,” it said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu confirmed that the Israeli military had launched an offensive in Gaza City, the administrative center of the Palestinian enclave of the same name. The operation’s declared objective is to eliminate Hamas. Before launching the offensive, the Israeli army repeatedly warned locals urging them to leave the potential zone of combat operation, including by means of dropping leaflets.
According to the Al Jazeera television channel, more than 40 people died and dozens were wounded after Israeli air raids on Gaza City in the past night alone.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing residents of border settlements and taking more than 250 hostages. In response, Israel initiated a military operation in the Palestinian enclave to dismantle Hamas’ military and political structures and free all hostages.
According to the latest data of Gaza’s health ministry, the overall death toll from hostilities in the enclave exceeds 64,000, with more than 165,000 people being wounded. As many as 428 Palestinians, including 146 children, have died of starvation.
