‘Gaza Won’t Surrender’: Hamas Defies Israel As Death Toll Tops 750 Since May 27, Aid Lines Turn To Graves And Ceasefire Talks Drag

Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip. (Photo: Reuters via ANI)

New Delhi: Gaza has refused to kneel. It is bleeding, burning and burying its dead, but it does not appear to be broken. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured Washington promising to “force Hamas to surrender” and to “end Gaza as a threat”, Hamas called it “psychological defeat” – pointing to military commanders who, after months of relentless war, had still failed to bring their captives home.

“Gaza will not surrender. It has become clear that there is no way to secure the release (of the captives) except through a serious deal with the resistance,” declared the armed Palestinian group.

That resistance is now surrounded by fire and famine. The Israeli military killed nearly 100 Palestinians across Gaza in a single day, striking homes and hospitals. The Zeitoun Medical Clinic was forced to shut down after direct attacks. Al-Shifa Hospital is running on hours – maybe minutes – of fuel. By dawn, doctors fear the last remaining machines may go dark.

While Israel spoke of “humanitarian cities”, it bombed aid lines again. The Gaza Government Media Office confirmed a staggering toll – 751 Palestinians killed and 4,931 injured since May 27 while queuing for food at aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Between June 30 and July 6 alone, 168 were killed waiting in aid lines.

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, answered back with a deadly ambush. Three explosive charges. A gunfight. Five Israeli soldiers killed. Several wounded. On both sides, young lives are being claimed faster than ceasefire papers can be drawn.

Meanwhile, in West Bank towns, armed settlers joined Israeli soldiers in raids. Palestinian homes were stormed. Olive groves were torched. Villages cracked under boots and gunfire.

But the story of Gaza today is not told in firepower. It is told in square metres.

According to the Euro-Med Monitor, Gaza’s 2.3 million people are now packed into less than 15% of the territory. That gives each man, woman and child less space than a detainee in Guantanamo Bay. No water. No food. No shelter. No healthcare. Just sky overhead and craters underfoot.

“After 21 months of continuous Israeli assault, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are confined to less than 15 percent of the enclave,” said the rights group in a statement.

“This is part of a deliberate policy that reflects a genocidal process by Israel to uproot the people and erase their physical and demographic presence through mass killing, forced displacement, starvation and systematic destruction of life,” it said.

The world watches. The European Union (EU) says it is concerned. Palestinians in Ramallah say concern is no longer enough.

Varsen Aghabekian, minister of state for foreign affairs, met the EU’s special envoy Christophe Bijou in Ramallah. Her words were sharp, urgent and exhausted.

She urged the EU to act “immediately” to stop Israel’s “genocide, displacement and starvation”.

She reminded Europe that Gaza’s cries cannot be drowned out by statements or diplomacy. She called for action.

She demanded that Europe’s “policy be translated into actions and steps that promote just peace by embodying the independent Palestinian state”.

And in Gaza, surrounded by ash and silence, a battered people echo that call. They still sleep beside the ruins of their homes. They still bury their dead with their bare hands. But they still refuse to surrender.