CAIRO, March 19 Five people, including children, died as a result of an Israeli strike on a car near the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Shehab agency reports.
«Five people, including children, were killed when the occupation (Israel — ed.) fired on a car in front of the UNRWA headquarters in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip,» the agency said in a statement.
On October 7, 2023, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. After this, the organization’s fighters entered the border areas in southern Israel, where they opened fire on both military and civilians, and also took more than 200 hostages. In Israel, according to the latest data from the authorities, about 1.2 thousand people were killed, this number includes civilians, soldiers, foreign citizens and workers, and it was also reported that more than 5 thousand were injured.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within a few days, the Israeli military took control of all populated areas near the border with Gaza and began carrying out air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was stopped. At the end of October, the ground phase of the Israeli operation in the enclave began.
The death toll from Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip exceeded 31.8 thousand, and more than 73.9 thousand people were injured, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported.
Hamas claimed that there were about 200-250 hostages in the Gaza Strip. By this time, according to Israeli official data, 112 hostages had been released, more than 30 were considered dead and about 100 were still being held in the Palestinian enclave.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the parties to stop hostilities. According to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the settlement of the Middle East crisis is possible only on the basis of a “two-state” formula approved by the UN Security Council, which provides for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, related to the territorial interests of the parties, has been a source of tension and clashes in the region for many decades. A UN decision with the active role of the USSR in 1947 determined the creation of two states — Israel and Palestine, but only the Israeli one was created.