From the frontlines of the Israel-Palestine war, NDTV brings you daily despatches by journalist Allan Sorensen, Middle East Correspondent for Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, giving insights and gripping first-hand accounts from the war-torn region.
As the first trucks with humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza Saturday morning, Arab and European delegates met in Cairo to discuss the crisis between Israel and Hamas in a one-day meeting called the Cairo Peace Summit.
While regional anger is growing, especially among the people of Egypt and Jordan, Israeli jets continue to hit targets in Gaza. The Cairo Peace Summit was presented as an initiative to calm the overall situation and look for possible solutions to the Gaza crisis. The leaderships of Jordan and Egypt have come under enormous internal pressure since the beginning of the Gaza conflict. Both countries have signed peace treaties with Israel, but this week's violent demonstrations in blunt support of Hamas in their own capitals have created a fear of internal instability.
Meanwhile, Gaza is moving towards further military escalation and a possible refugee crisis.
Therefore, Egypt and Jordan harshly criticized Israel at the summit.
The host, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, rejected any talk of driving Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and warned against the "liquidation of the Palestinian cause."
"I want to state it clearly and unequivocally to the world that the liquidation of the Palestinian cause without a just solution is beyond the realm of possibility, and in any case, it will never happen at the expense of Egypt, absolutely not," Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said.
At the same time, King Abdullah II of Jordan referred to Israel's siege and bombardment of Gaza as "a war crime".
"This is a war crime according to international law, and a red line for all of us," the Jordanian King said at the summit.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah on the West Bank, described Israel's attacks on Gaza as "a barbaric aggression".
On a possible refugee scenario he said; "We will not leave, we will not leave, we will not leave, and we will remain in our land."
No representatives from Israel or the US attended the Cairo Peace Summit.
In the past week, several Israeli ministers, including Defense Minister Yoav Galant, have outlined what seems to be Israel's plan for Hamas and Gaza.
The first stage, according to the plan, is to destroy the military capabilities of Hamas. The next is to overthrow the Hamas government and make sure it can't gain ground again. The third aim is for Israel to withdraw from Gaza when a new "security regime" has been created in the city. No specifics have been given about such a security regime, but in the public debate in Israel, several options have been mentioned. Among them a Gaza Strip governed by the UN or a so-called peace force from different Arab countries.
On the ground in Gaza , the Palestinian Red Crescent said its operations at Al-Quds hospital face an "imminent threat" after the Israeli military ordered the hospital's evacuation. The hospital is currently "a sanctuary for over 400 patients and around 12,000 displaced civilians," the Red Crescent said in a statement.
According to the Israeli Army, 20 hospitals in the northern parts of Gaza have been asked to evacuate their premises. So far, six hospitals have been evacuated, 10 are negotiating with Israel and four reject any form of evacuation. Israeli Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari states that Hamas is deliberately keeping its members inside these hospitals.
In an Israeli attack on a Greek Orthodox church compound in Gaza, at least 18 people are reported to have been killed. According to Palestinian sources, more than 500 Christians and Muslims had taken shelter in the church. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its "strongest condemnation" of the Israeli strike, calling it a war crime.
The death count in Gaza rose to more than 4,200 on Friday. Some 70 per cent of the dead are believed to be women and children. More than 13,000 people have been injured in Gaza. About 1,400 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas massacre on October 7, and more than 4,000 injured. The Israeli Army has announced that it knows of at least 212 hostages held in Gaza.
Late Saturday, in a rare incident, an Israeli military helicopter attacked a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp in the city of Jenin. At least two Palestinians were killed in what was the first helicopter attack in the West Bank in years.
Israeli authorities officially stated that the compound beneath al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin refugee camp belonged to operatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
"Intel was recently received which indicated that the terrorists, (who) were neutralized, were organizing an imminent terror attack," the military said in a statement.
In many European cities, the war in Gaza creates a tense atmosphere. According to thebLondon Police a 1,355 per cent increase in antisemitic offenses has been recorded this month, compared to the same period last year. Islamophobic offenses are up 140% after the attack by Hamas on Israel.
In the border area between Israel and Lebanon, fighting continued through Saturday. The Lebanese Hezbollah militia tried to hit both Israeli army posts and civilians on Saturday. Israel retaliated and the Israeli Army announced that it had hit almost 40 of the military bases Hezbollah has built in recent years.
The Israeli evacuation of its own communities near Gaza and Lebanon continues. More than 100.000 Israelis have so far been evacuated and placed mainly in hotels near the Dead Sea or the central parts of Israel.
(Allan Sorensen is the Middle East correspondent for the Danish daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.
