Israel on Monday intensified its strikes on the Gaza Strip in a state of siege, where the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation, on the 17th day of the war triggered by the bloody attack by Hamas on Israeli soil, favors calls for a truce by fights. The Israeli army, which has been relentlessly bombing the Gaza Strip since October 7 in response to this attack and promises to “annihilate” Hamas, in power in the Palestinian territory, has intensified its bombings as a prelude to a probable ground intervention .
This prospect worries the international community, which fears an escalation of the conflict. Iran, an ally of Hamas, warned on Sunday that the situation risked becoming “uncontrollable” in the Middle East, transformed into a “powder keg”. The United States has at the same time strengthened its military presence in the region.
The main information:
- Dozens of Palestinians, including children, were killed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in intense Israeli raids.
- Faced with the risk of a regional conflagration, American President Joe Biden spoke on the telephone with the leaders of Canada, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, as well as with French President Emmanuel Macron.
- Élisabeth Borne calls for a “humanitarian truce”
- Emmanuel Macron is expected in Israel this Tuesday.
- More than 19,000 people displaced in Lebanon after intensifying clashes between Israeli army and Hezbollah UN calls for ‘immediate humanitarian ceasefire’
UN calls for “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Monday for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, urging leaders to make “courageous choices.” “The first step must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, saving the lives of civilians through the delivery of rapid and effective humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Volker Türk said in a statement.
“Humanity must come first,” he insisted, stressing that “far too many civilians, including many children, have already lost their lives – on both sides.” In the Gaza Strip, a small, poor territory where 2.4 million Palestinians are crowded together, international aid began to arrive in dribs and drabs since Saturday via Egypt, in very insufficient quantities according to the UN.
Washington points finger at Iran, sends military advisers to Israel
The United States accused Iran on Monday of “actively facilitating” attacks on bases where American soldiers are stationed in the Middle East, and announced that it had sent military advisers to Israel, at war with Hamas since the Hamas offensive. Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7.
Furthermore, the United States has warned that any ceasefire in Gaza decreed by Israel would benefit Hamas, at a time when calls for a humanitarian truce are becoming more and more numerous.
“Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah, and we know that they are closely monitoring these events and in some cases actively facilitating these attacks and inciting others who want to exploit this conflict for their own or their own interests. Iran,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
UN General Assembly meeting Thursday
The UN General Assembly will meet on Thursday to discuss the war sparked by the Hamas attack on Israeli soil, its president announced Monday in a letter to member states.
While the Security Council failed to agree on a resolution concerning this war, several States, notably Jordan on behalf of the Arab group, Russia, Syria, Bangladesh and even Vietnam and the Cambodia, have formally requested General Assembly President Dennis Francis to schedule this meeting.
A ceasefire in Gaza can only be discussed after the release of all Hamas hostages, says Biden
Discussions on a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas will only be possible after the release of all the hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist movement, Joe Biden said on Monday. “The hostages must be released, then we can discuss,” declared the American president when asked about his support for a “hostages for ceasefire” agreement.
Joe Biden later apologized for having to leave a White House event promoting his economic agenda ahead of the 2024 presidential election, saying he had to go to the building’s situation room for “another issue that ‘(he had to) deal with’.
Hamas claims to have freed two female hostages
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas claimed Monday to have released two women kidnapped during its attack on Israeli territory on October 7 and detained since then in the Gaza Strip which it controls. The spokesperson for Hamas’ military branch, Abou Obeida, assured in a statement that the two hostages had been released “for pressing humanitarian reasons” thanks to mediation from Qatar and Egypt.
This release, which comes three days after that of two American women, was not immediately confirmed by the Israeli authorities. Hamas did not specify the nationality of the two hostages, however suggesting that they were Israeli, accusing Israel of having initially refused to have them handed over to it. The Islamist movement further accused Israel of having “violated on eight occasions the arrangements governing the liberation operation which had been agreed with the mediators for it to be carried out”.
More than 300 people “arrested” for anti-Semitic acts or threats
Élisabeth Borne announced Monday, during a debate in the National Assembly, that more than 300 people had been arrested in France for “anti-Semitic acts or threats” since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. “Since October 7, more than 300 people have been arrested for anti-Semitic acts or threats,” said the Prime Minister at the conclusion of this debate, which was devoted to the international situation. “The Pharos platform which collects and processes reports of hateful content online has received more than 4,000 alerts. More than 300 have been sent to the courts so that the perpetrators can be found and punished,” added Elisabeth Borne.
On October 17, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported “183 arrests” which had taken place in France for “anti-Semitic acts” since October 7. He also reported “327 anti-Semitic acts” since October 7 and “3,176 reports” on the Pharos platform, including “281 transmissions to the courts”.
Borne calls for a “humanitarian truce”
In the Gaza Strip, a small, poor territory where 2.4 million Palestinians are crowded together, international aid began to arrive in dribs and drabs since Saturday via Egypt. On Monday, a third convoy crossed the border at Rafah, the only exit from the territory not controlled by Israel. In total, around fifty trucks entered the Gaza Strip in three days, although according to the UN at least 100 trucks are needed per day to meet the needs of the population.
The United States, which had obtained the agreement of Israel and that of Egypt to allow humanitarian aid to pass through, announced on Sunday “that there would henceforth be a continuous flow into Gaza of this crucial assistance”. But the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, called on Monday for “more aid, more quickly” as well as a “humanitarian pause” to allow its distribution.
France has joined this call. On the eve of a visit by President Emmanuel Macron to Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne called Monday for a “humanitarian truce” which “could lead to a ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, calling it a “friend” of both Israelis and Palestinians. Russian President Vladimir Putin also called for “unhindered” access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and for a “rapid ceasefire”.
More than 5,000 Palestinians killed, according to Hamas
Because far from easing, Israeli bombings have intensified over the past 24 hours. On Monday, the Israeli army announced that it had struck “more than 320 military targets” overnight, infrastructure of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad. These two groups are classified as terrorist organizations by the United States, the European Union and Israel. These raids left more than 70 people dead, according to the Hamas government, including 17 people killed by a strike on a house in Jabaliya, in the north.
On October 7, in the middle of Shabbat, the weekly Jewish rest, and on the last day of the Sukkot holiday, hundreds of Hamas operatives infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip, spreading terror in an attack unprecedented since creation of Israel in 1948. More than 1,400 people were killed in Israel, most civilians shot, burned or mutilated on the day of the attack, according to authorities. Hamas kidnapped 222 hostages, Israelis and foreigners, according to the Israeli army.
The presence of the hostages in the Gaza Strip would make an Israeli ground intervention even more dangerous, in this overpopulated territory, riddled with tunnels where Hamas hides its members and its weapons. Hamas said Monday that 5,087 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 2,055 children, had been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli bombings which destroyed entire neighborhoods. All of this data could not be independently verified by AFP.
“Catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza
Since October 15, the Israeli army has called on civilians in the north of this territory, where the bombings are the most intense, to flee to the south. But the strikes also continue to affect the south, close to the Egyptian border, where the displaced are massed by the hundreds of thousands. Subject to an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since Hamas took power there in 2007, the Gaza Strip has been placed in a state of “complete siege” since October 9 by Israel, which has cut off water, electricity and food supply.
Israel had announced that it would not prevent the entry of humanitarian aid from Egypt “as long as it concerns food, water and medicine for the civilian population in the south of the Strip.” Gaza.” The humanitarian situation is “catastrophic”, warned the UN, in this 362 square kilometer territory where at least 1.4 million Palestinians have fled their homes.
At least 181,000 homes damaged according to Hamas
On Monday in Rafah, men filled plastic containers with water from tanks, while others searched the ruins of a building destroyed by a strike, looking for survivors, according to AFP journalists. Mohammed Abu Sabalah, a resident of the town, had just returned home after morning prayers. “A quarter of an hour later, there was a bombing. We couldn’t see anything because of the thick smoke,” he said.
According to Hamas, at least 181,000 homes were damaged by Israeli strikes, including 20,000 completely destroyed or rendered unusable. In Khan Younes, still in the south, a family was preparing to bury children killed in a bombing, their bodies draped in white carried to the cemetery by relatives.
19,000 displaced in Lebanon
Faced with the risk of opening a second front, the Israeli army has massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip and on its northern border with Lebanon since October 7. Small units have already carried out limited incursions into Palestinian territory, targeting Hamas infrastructure and seeking to locate missing or abducted people.
Since October 7, the army has evacuated the surroundings of the Gaza Strip. Orit Cohen, a 29-year-old man from the town of Sderot, said he came to pick up his mother “who until now refused to leave.” “But the army is bombing just on the other side. I was afraid for her,” he added.
In Lebanon, more than 19,000 people were displaced after an increase in clashes between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah, supported by Iran and ally of Hamas, on the border between the two countries, according to figures published Monday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The border area on the Israeli side was also evacuated.