Violent fighting pitted the Israeli army against Hamas on Friday in the Gaza Strip, where after days of blocking humanitarian aid, a first unloading began on the temporary jetty set up by the United States. In the eighth month of war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the Israeli army is fighting Palestinian forces in the Jabalia refugee camp (north), also targeted by Israeli aerial bombardments and artillery fire, according to witnesses. Six people were killed in their bombed home, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense.
After days of blocking the arrival of humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory threatened by famine, the American army announced that a first load had begun to be unloaded on Friday by the temporary American pier anchored on the coast of the Gaza Strip .
The US military also announced the arrival of “approximately 500 tons (of aid) in the coming days (…) distributed among several boats. “We are finalizing our operational plans to ensure that we are ready to handle ” this aid, “while guaranteeing the safety of our staff”, indicated for its part the UN humanitarian agency (Ocha), reiterating its preference for deliveries by road.
Information to follow:
- Violent fighting is currently between the Israeli army and Hamas in Gaza in the Jabalia refugee camp
- A first load of humanitarian aid arrived on the temporary jetty set up by the United States
- 500 tons of aid should arrive in Gaza in the coming days, the US military announced
- 13 countries, including France, sent a joint appeal to Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch a major offensive on Rafah
Call from 13 countries
In the far south of the Palestinian territory, in Rafah, the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, claimed to have targeted Israeli troops “stationed at the border post” with Egypt with shell fire. The Israeli navy carried out shelling on the coast of Rafah where hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict are fleeing the city after nighttime strikes which left people injured, according to the Kuwaiti hospital in the city.
The day after Israel’s announcement of the intensification of its military operations in Rafah, where the stated objective is to annihilate the last battalions of Hamas, 13 countries – Japan, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Australia , South Korea and seven EU member states including France – sent him a joint appeal not to launch a large-scale offensive on Rafah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday described the “battle of Rafah” as “decisive” in destroying the Palestinian Islamist movement. The army also claims to be operating there to free hostages kidnapped on October 7.
In their joint appeal, the 13 countries also call for “additional efforts” to improve the flow of international aid. “We urge the Israeli government to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip through all relevant crossing points, including Rafah,” the ministers continue.
Since the deployment on May 7 of the Israeli army on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing point, Israelis and Egyptians have blamed each other for the paralysis of this crucial passage for the entry of fuel essential to hospitals and humanitarian logistics. Aid deliveries are also largely hampered at the Israeli-side crossings of Kerem Shalom and Erez.
“No genocide”
Since ordering civilians to leave the eastern sectors of Rafah on May 6 in anticipation of a major ground offensive, “600,000 people have fled,” according to the UN. Some 1.4 million people, residents and people displaced by the fighting, were so far in this city, backed by the closed border with Egypt. “People are terrified and trying to flee” to the north and the coast, “it’s very difficult, because there is no safe route out of Rafah and there is certainly no safe destination in Gaza,” described Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson.
In The Hague, on the second day of hearing before the highest UN court seized by South Africa which affirms that Israel would have intensified a “genocidal” campaign with its operation in Rafah, the Israeli representative denounced Friday accusations “totally disconnected” from reality. “A tragic war is underway but there is no genocide,” Gilad Noam told judges. The hearing was briefly interrupted when a woman shouted “liars” as he concluded his statement.
The UN and NGOs regularly warn of a risk of famine in the Gaza Strip, where some 2.4 million inhabitants live, 70% of whom have been displaced since the start of the war.
Three dead in Lebanon
The conflict was triggered on October 7 by an attack by Hamas commandos in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official data. Israelis. Of the 252 people taken as hostages on October 7, 128 are still detained in Gaza, of whom 38 are dead according to the Israeli army.
The vast offensive launched in response by Israel devastated the Gaza Strip, where 35,303 people were killed, mostly civilians, according to the report published Friday by the Hamas Ministry of Health. The Israeli army announced the death of five soldiers killed Wednesday by “friendly fire” during fighting in Jabalia. A total of 279 Israeli soldiers have died since Israeli troops entered Gaza on October 27, where Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, took power in 2007.
Three people, including two Syrians, according to a source close to the Islamist movement Hezbollah, were killed Friday morning in Israeli strikes which targeted, according to Lebanese state media ANI, two localities in southern Lebanon relatively far from the border. These strikes come against a backdrop of intensifying exchanges of fire between the pro-Iranian movement and Israeli troops.