The Israeli air force carried out new strikes on Saturday on the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip, which has become an “uninhabitable place of death” according to the UN, after almost three months of a relentless war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas. This conflict, which enters its fourth month on Sunday, is raising fears of an overflow with the increase in violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border, in Iraq, in Syria and in the Red Sea.
On Saturday, Lebanese Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets towards a military base in Meron in northern Israel, an attack presented as its first response to the elimination, attributed to Israel, of Hamas number two on Tuesday near Beirut. The Israeli army confirmed around forty shots.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after its unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which killed 1,140 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on the Israeli death toll. Around 250 people were taken hostage, including around 100 released during a truce at the end of November. Incessant Israeli bombings have left 22,600 dead in Gaza, mostly women, children and adolescents, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. They destroyed entire neighborhoods and displaced 1.9 million people, or 85% of the population according to the UN, who live in terrible conditions.
Information to remember:
- New Israeli bombings hit the Gaza Strip this Saturday
- 22,722 Palestinians have died since October 7, according to Hamas
- Lebanese Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at military base in Meron in northern Israel
- The Gaza Strip has “simply become uninhabitable”, deplores the coordinator of United Nations humanitarian affairs
According to AFP journalists, strikes targeted Rafah early Saturday morning, a town at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge in recent weeks trying to escape destructive bombings. On Friday, hospital sources reported 35 deaths in Deir al-Balah (center). In northern Gaza, where the Israeli army launched its ground operation on October 27, the bombings continue.
Classified as a “terrorist group” by the United States and the European Union, Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from this territory following a 38-year occupation. Israel then imposed an air, sea and land blockade on the territory from 2007, before a total siege from October 9.
Israel says it has “completed the military dismantling” of Hamas in northern Gaza
The Israeli army announced on Saturday evening that it had “completed the dismantling of the Hamas military structure in the north of the Gaza Strip” and was now focusing on the dismantling of the Palestinian Islamist movement “in the center and south of this territory” .
“We’re going to do it differently […] “It takes time, there are no shortcuts in the fight against terrorism,” General Daniel Hagari, Israeli army spokesman, said in a press conference as the war entered its fourth on Sunday. month.
It is ‘absolutely necessary’ that Lebanon not be drawn into war
The head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on Saturday that Lebanon should not be “dragged into a regional conflict”, against a backdrop of clashes in the south of the country between Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas Palestinian in Gaza, and the Israeli army.
“It is imperative to avoid a regional escalation in the Middle East, it is absolutely necessary to prevent Lebanon from being dragged into a regional conflict,” Josep Borrell said during a press conference in Beirut with his counterpart Lebanese. “I also send this message to Israel: no one will win from a regional conflict,” he added.
Hamas announces new death toll of 22,722
The Palestinian Hamas Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip had left 22,722 dead since the start of the war on October 7. This count includes 122 people killed in the last 24 hours, specifies a press release from the ministry, also reporting 58,166 people injured since October 7.
“90 Days of Hell”
The Gaza Strip has “simply become uninhabitable”, and its inhabitants “face daily threats before the eyes of the world”, lamented the coordinator of humanitarian affairs of the United Nations, Martin Griffiths. According to Unicef, the clashes, malnutrition and the health situation have created “a cycle of death which threatens more than 1.1 million children” in this small, overpopulated and impoverished territory.
“We continue to demand an immediate end to the conflict not only for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbors, but for generations to come who will never forget the 90 days of hell and attacks on the most fundamental principles of humanity,” said Martin Griffiths.
Israel, however, remains inflexible and affirms that it wants to continue its offensive until the “return” of the hostages and the “elimination” of Hamas’ military capabilities, which remain “important” according to the American ally. “2024 will be a year of fighting,” Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari warned on Friday. The army continues to “fight in the north, center and south” of the Gaza Strip, he said. Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip towards Israel continues but with less intensity, and warning sirens, mainly in southern Israel, close to Palestinian territory, sound almost every day.
Rockets towards northern Israel
And on the border with Lebanon, Martin Hagari reported a “very high level of preparation” of the troops. Since October 8, Hezbollah has launched daily attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon, mainly targeting military positions near the border, in support of Hamas, its ally. And Israel responds by bombing targets in southern Lebanon.
These tensions crescendoed with the elimination on Tuesday of Hamas number two Saleh al-Arouri, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah. “The response is inevitable (…),” warned Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.
She didn’t have to wait. “As part of the initial response to the assassination of the great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri (…), the Islamic resistance (Hezbollah, editor’s note) on Saturday targeted the military radar observation and air control base of Meron with 62 missiles of different types,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
In Syria and Iraq, attacks against United States military bases have increased since October 7. And Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea and fired missiles toward Israel in “support” of the Palestinians.
Borrell and Blinken in the Middle East
In this context, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell is due to meet this weekend with officials in Lebanon while American Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Turkey for a regional tour which will also take him to countries Arabs and in Israel in the hope of avoiding a regional conflagration.
Another possible element on his program: the longer-term future of Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant unveiled a post-war plan on Thursday that advocates an administration without Hamas, but without an Israeli civilian presence. This plan has not at this stage received the approval of the government divided on this issue.
But for two far-right Israeli ministers – Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – the future of Gaza depends on the departure of Palestinians there and the return of Jewish settlers. Moreover, in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the number of new illegal settlements and roads for Israeli settlers has experienced an “unprecedented” increase since October 7, maintains in a study the Israeli NGO La Paix NOW.