New deadly Israeli strikes targeted the south of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, where Israel promised to carry out a “powerful” ground operation in the overcrowded town of Rafah despite increasing international pressure.
After more than four months of war against Hamas across the besieged Palestinian territory, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now wants to destroy the “last bastion” of the Islamist movement in Rafah, which has become the final refuge for hundreds of thousands of civilians who fled the fighting.
While the mediating countries continue their negotiations in Cairo to try to obtain a truce as well as the release of hostages held in Gaza, calls are multiplying throughout the world regarding the potentially devastating consequences of such an operation.
After in particular the UN and the United States, Israel’s main ally which demands “guarantees” for the safety of civilians, Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel on Thursday against a “catastrophic” operation. » in Rafah.
” Nowhere to go ”
“There is simply nowhere to go” for civilians stuck against the closed border with Egypt, emphasize these three countries, urging Benjamin Netanyahu to “not go down this path”.
“We will fight until complete victory, which implies powerful action in Rafah, after allowing the civilian population to leave the combat zones,” the prime minister declared on Wednesday.
Around 1.4 million people, according to the UN, more than half of Gaza’s population, many of them displaced several times, are now crowding into Rafah, transformed into a gigantic encampment, in fear of the announced offensive.
Rafah is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid from Egypt, controlled by Israel and insufficient to meet the needs of a population threatened in the middle of winter by famine and epidemics.
On Thursday, new bombings targeted Khan Younes, a large town a few kilometers north of Rafah, transformed into a field of ruins, which had become the heart of the Israeli offensive.
The Hamas Ministry of Health announced a death toll of 107 across the territory, adding that bombings on the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes had left one dead and several injured.
Thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in the grounds of this hospital besieged by Israeli tanks, where doctors describe a desperate situation.
” We are scared ”
“My husband and my son Mohammad left on Wednesday with thousands of people, but I don’t know what happened to them, we lost contact,” Jamila, a displaced person at Nasser hospital, told AFP. Zidane.
“We are afraid,” confides this 43-year-old woman, who remained in the hospital with her six daughters. “For several days, we have had no food and we have been drinking dirty water.”
The army announced Thursday “to continue its targeted raids” in Khan Younes. The Israeli air force carried out “a series of strikes” in support of ground troops across the territory, which hit “underground installations, military bases and Hamas firing points”, the army added.
The war was triggered by the attack carried out on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to a count by the AFP produced from official Israeli data.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. The army launched an offensive that left 28,576 dead in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.
The war has also reignited tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israel launched strikes in southern Lebanon that killed at least ten people, according to Lebanese sources, in retaliation for rocket fire that killed a female soldier at a military base in northern Israel, making it once again fear a regional escalation.
Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, visiting the north of the country, threatened Wednesday a “very offensive campaign” in Lebanon, after four months of exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah Lebanese Shiite, ally of Hamas and supported by Iran.
“Delusional demands”
Negotiations for a truce including further releases of Hamas hostages and Palestinians held by Israel continue meanwhile in Cairo, through Qatar and Egypt.
After a meeting on Tuesday between the head of Mossad, the Israeli secret service, David Barnea, the director of the CIA, William Burns, the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani, and Egyptian officials, these negotiations are expected to last until ‘See you Friday.
Benyamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday of “delusional demands from Hamas” which would block the negotiations, without further details.
According to Israel, 130 hostages are still held in Gaza, 29 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on October 7. A week-long truce in November allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinians held by Israel.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reiterated Thursday “its extreme concern for the lives and well-being of the hostages held in Gaza for more than four months.”
reference: www.lapresse.ca