DaysofPal – At least 12 Palestinians, including seven women and two children, were killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces struck al-Ahli Stadium in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where displaced families had taken shelter.
The stadium-turned-refuge quickly became another site of massacre, even as world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) called for an immediate ceasefire.
“I only had what I had in my hand. I left with nothing,” said Najwa, a woman displaced from Gaza City. “We are frightened. Transportation is expensive. We can’t pay to bring our things.”
Israel’s assault on Gaza escalated sharply overnight, with at least 85 Palestinians killed in a single day, more than double the previous day’s toll. Since October 2023, the death count has risen to at least 65,419, with 167,160 wounded. Thousands more remain entombed under rubble as relentless bombardment and siege continue.
Despite Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir claiming that Palestinians were being pushed southward “for their safety,” UN investigators rejected those assertions.
A recent commission of inquiry concluded that Israel’s actions are designed to cement permanent control over Gaza while enforcing demographic dominance in the West Bank and within Israel itself.
Zamir declared that “most of Gaza’s population has already left Gaza City” and vowed the army would continue its “systematic and thorough advance” into the enclave’s largest urban center.
The war, launched after Hamas fighters killed 1,139 Israelis and took about 200 captive on October 7, 2023, has been described by rights groups as one of vengeance. More than 40 captives remain in Gaza, while Palestinians face daily mass killings, famine, and displacement.
At the UNGA in New York, Gaza dominated speeches. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned Israel, declaring, “Those criminals who bully by murdering children are not worthy of the name ‘human being,’ and they shall never prove to be trustworthy partners.”
Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa demanded an “immediate end to the war,” while Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide revealed ongoing talks aimed at a ceasefire, building on July’s “New York Declaration” backed by 142 nations. “Even the United States is beginning to understand we cannot just continue with this endless, senseless war,” he said.
Washington’s envoy Steve Witkoff suggested a breakthrough may be near, pointing to President Donald Trump’s 21-point peace plan now circulating among world leaders.
But prospects are grim:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly sabotaged mediation efforts, even ordering assassinations of Hamas leaders during ceasefire negotiations in Doha earlier this month. He previously scrapped a truce on March 18, triggering intensified bombardment and a total aid blockade that led to starvation deaths across Gaza.
Netanyahu, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes, flew to New York amid protests at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. Demonstrators denounced his leadership as Israel’s isolation deepens. Before departing, his office defiantly rejected global appeals for a Palestinian state: “The shameful surrender of some leaders to Palestinian terrorism will not bind Israel in any way.”
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