The number of Palestinian victims of the Israeli attacks on Gaza has risen to 33, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Saturday. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that the Israeli occupation forces prevented its crews from entering the region to treat the injured. This came amid ongoing Egyptian mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement between the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian armed movements. The Israeli army said that 1,099 rockets were fired at Israel as of Saturday morning, 865 of which crossed the border, while Iron Dome managed to intercept 340 rockets, according to the statement. Sirens sounded in the settlements of Nirim, Nir Am, Mafilsim, Sderot and Efim on the Gaza border. The Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip targeted members of the Islamic Jihad Military Council, which was confirmed by the Israeli occupation army in a statement asking settlers to enter shelters. During the hours of Friday night, operational command headquarters, underground missile platforms, and Islamic Jihad missile launch sites in Gaza were targeted. The head of the Palestinian government media office, Salama Maarouf, announced that the Israeli occupation destroyed 15 houses, with a total of 51 housing units, completely demolished, and 940 housing units damaged, including 49 uninhabitable units. The estimated value of the initial losses amounted to approximately $5m. On the fifth day of the Israeli aggression, Maarouf indicated in a press conference that the agricultural sector suffered direct losses and damages of more than $3 m as a result of preventing the export of more than 1,000 tonnes of agricultural products, stopping the fishing sector, and damage to large agricultural areas and farms for citizens. Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said that "in the face of the continuation of assassinations and the bombing of safe houses, the resistance will renew its missile bombardment of the occupied cities." Moreover, Israel announced on Saturday, that no agreement would be reached to reach a cease-fire with the Islamic Jihad movement. Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said that Israel is "focusing more on shooting gunmen in Gaza at the present time than on reaching a cease-fire, ending the latest operation on the Gaza Strip that began on Tuesday." He stressed that the occupation army would stop carrying out its attacks in the Gaza Strip after the Islamic Jihad announced a halt to firing rockets at the Israeli depth. "The Egyptians are trying [to sponsor ceasefire] as they always do. They are talking to their partners, specifically with Hamas, and I cannot estimate the nature of communication between them and the Jihad movement." He accused the Islamic Jihad of following the instructions of Iran.
