The Israeli regime has drastically escalated its attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip in the five weeks since halting its joint bombing with the United States of Iran, redirecting its firepower to the devastated Palestinian enclave.

Conflict monitor ACLED reported on Wednesday that Israel carried out 35 percent more attacks in Gaza in April than in March. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 120 Palestinians, including eight women and 13 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since April 8, a 20 percent increase compared with the prior five weeks when Israel was striking Iran.

“The war is still ongoing,” said blind Palestinian Lafi al-Najjar, whose son was killed in an Israeli attack on April 28. “It stopped in the announcement, but in reality and on the ground, the war has not stopped,” he added. His family has been living in a shelter in the ruins of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reasons for the increasing strikes. A so-called “ceasefire” in Israel’s two-year genocidal war has been in place since October, brokered by the US and Qatar. However, Israeli forces have not withdrawn from the territory, continue to impose severe restrictions on aid supplies, and have prevented efforts to rebuild the Palestinian territory.

Israeli forces occupy more than half of Gaza’s territory, where they have demolished many remaining buildings and ordered all residents out. Over two million people now live in a tiny coastal strip, mostly in damaged structures or makeshift tents. About 850 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the “ceasefire” took effect; at least four Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian armed groups during the same period.

Since Israel joined the US in bombing Iran in March, it has also launched a ground invasion and air campaign in Lebanon, where fighting continues, especially in the south, despite a separate US-brokered ceasefire taking effect last month.

Source: www.aljazeera.com