The Israeli army carried out new deadly strikes on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, after the US Senate approved $13 billion in military aid to Israel in its war against Palestinian Hamas.
More than six months after the start of the war, sparked by the Islamist movement Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, many foreign capitals are concerned about ongoing preparations for an Israeli operation on Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assured for weeks that this city, located at the southern end of the ravaged Palestinian territory where a million and a half people have found refuge, is the last bastion of Hamas.
Early Wednesday, hospital and security sources in Gaza reported Israeli airstrikes in the Nuseirat (center) and Rafah sectors. A total of 79 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours, according to Hamas.
An AFP correspondent also reported intense airstrikes and artillery fire in Gaza City and the north of the besieged territory.
On the diplomatic front, Israel thanked its American ally for the package of military aid it granted. This aid of 13 billion dollars should notably make it possible to strengthen its “Iron Dome” anti-missile shield, deployed at its borders.
This aid to Israel “is a clear guarantee of the strength of our alliance and it sends a strong message to all our enemies”, a reference to Hamas, but also to Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, the head of Israeli diplomacy Israel Katz.
The American plan also includes more than nine billion dollars to “respond to the urgent need for humanitarian aid in Gaza”, as well as to other countries including war-devastated Sudan.
“Apocalyptic situation”?
According to Egyptian officials, cited by the Wall Street Journal, Israel is preparing to move civilians from Rafah to the nearby town of Khan Younes, in particular, where it plans to set up shelters and food distribution centers.
The evacuation of Gazan civilians would last two to three weeks and would be carried out in coordination with the United States, Egypt and other Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, according to these officials.
Such an operation “would be a crime” declared to AFP the director of the government press office in Gaza, Ismaïl Al-Thawabta, assuring that the center of Gaza and the town of Khan Younes “absolutely cannot accommodate” the million and a half displaced people from Rafah.
Satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies and published by AFP show tents recently installed in the south of the territory.
For Jan Egeland, secretary general of the NGO Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an offensive on Rafah, “the largest camp for displaced people on earth,” would lead to an “apocalyptic situation.”
“Impunity”
In the meantime, the Israeli army declared on Wednesday that it had struck two Hamas launching posts overnight in the south of the territory where 2.5 million Palestinians live.
“We are not terrorists,” Robhi El Hout, a resident of Deir El Balah (center) whose house was destroyed in an Israeli strike, told AFP.
“Why bomb the house? Our entire neighborhood is peaceful. We have children, women and elderly people here,” he continues helplessly.
The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out from Gaza against Israel by Hamas commandos, which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official data. Israelis.
More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain captive in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials. In retaliation, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a vast military operation which left 34,262 dead, mostly civilians, according to Hamas.
On Tuesday, the UN called for an international investigation into mass graves discovered in the two main hospitals of these cities, al-Chifa in Gaza and Nasser in Khan Younes, stressing the need to put an end to the current “climate of impunity”.
340 bodies exhumed-
Following suit, the European Union on Wednesday called for an independent investigation.
Gaza Civil Defense said it had exhumed since Saturday 340 bodies of people killed and buried by Israeli forces in mass graves inside the Nasser hospital.
The Israeli military said allegations that it had buried Palestinian bodies were “baseless”, saying it had dug up and then reburied bodies in search of those of hostages.
In addition to the heavy human toll and massive destruction, the population of Gaza faces a risk of famine according to the UN. The United States will begin construction of a pier in Gaza “very soon” to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Germany announced the upcoming resumption of cooperation with the UN refugee agency UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, after an investigation failed to provide evidence of alleged links with organizations terrorists. The European Union called on donors on Tuesday to support the UN agency.
In recent days, Israel, which strictly controls the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip, has increased the number of aid trucks allowed into the territory. Israel and the UN do not always agree on the count of these aid trucks, but the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, welcomed a record number of trucks entering the territory in a single day .
reference: www.lapresse.ca