The Israeli army reported “two anti-tank missile shots” hitting northern Israel from Lebanon overnight and said it targeted the “sources of these strikes” with artillery fire. Military planes struck Hezbollah “infrastructure” in the Kfarchouba sector, the Israeli army said in a brief statement. For its part, Lebanese Hezbollah, a movement supported by Iran and ally of Palestinian Hamas, claimed responsibility in a press release for shots having “hit” Israeli forces at the border.
An “offensive action” carried out in southern Lebanon
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday that it was carrying out an “offensive action” in southern Lebanon, from where Hezbollah is carrying out attacks against the Israeli army which is striking positions of the Shiite movement allied with Palestinian Hamas. Hamas and Israel have been engaged in a war in the Gaza Strip for more than six months, where the Israeli army is preparing for a ground operation in Rafah, the Islamist movement’s “last” bastion located in the south of the territory.
For Netanyahu, an offensive on Rafah is necessary to “defeat” Hamas
Many capitals and humanitarian organizations fear, in the event of an offensive, a bloodbath in this city in the south of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, refuge for nearly a million and a half Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that an offensive on Rafah is necessary to “defeat” Hamas and free the more than a hundred hostages still held in Gaza. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer announced Thursday that the war cabinet had met “to discuss ways to destroy the last battalions of Hamas.” But according to Israeli media, the cabinet discussed a new truce project associated with a release of hostages, before a visit planned for Friday by an Egyptian delegation, a mediator country like Qatar and the United States.
According to the Walla website, which quotes a senior Israeli official without naming him, the discussions relate more specifically to a proposal to initially release 20 hostages considered to be “humanitarian” cases. A Hamas political leader, Ghazi Hamad, for his part assured AFP from Qatar that an assault on Rafah would not allow Israel to obtain “what it wants”, either to eliminate Hamas or recover” the hostages.
Hamas releases video of hostage
On Thursday, relatives of hostages demonstrated once again in Tel Aviv, to put pressure on the government to obtain their release. Some had their hands tied and stained red, their mouths covered with a plaster marked with the number “202”, the number of days since October 7, or carried a sign with the words “A hostage agreement now”.
Hamas released a video of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Wednesday, a move seen by the local press as aimed, among other things, at putting pressure on Israel in the talks. Probably speaking under duress, this 23-year-old Israeli-American accuses Mr. Netanyahu and members of his government of having “abandoned” the hostages in this video.
The leaders of 18 countries, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Brazil, called on Hamas on Thursday for “the immediate release of all hostages.” “The agreement on the table to release the hostages would allow an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza,” the text continues.
>> TO KNOW – The war was sparked 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 and launched a military operation in Gaza which has so far left 34,305 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health.
“It went too far”
During the night from Thursday to Friday, witnesses reported bombings in Gaza, particularly in the Rafah sector where survivors tried on Thursday to recover objects from the rubble after strikes. “Enough destruction, enough war. Enough bloodshed of children, women, the elderly and unarmed civilians (…) it has gone too far (…) Let the people live,” said one of them, Samir Daban, among the rubble.
Pro-Palestinian American student protests
As the besieged territory’s 2.4 million residents face a humanitarian disaster, the United States has begun building a temporary port and pier facing Gaza’s coastline that will allow military or civilian ships to drop off their aid shipments. Washington announced at the beginning of March the construction of this artificial port in the face of difficulties in transporting international aid by land from Egypt, due to the very strict controls imposed by Israel.
These developments come as a protest movement against the war in Gaza becomes widespread in the United States. From Los Angeles to Atlanta, from Austin to Boston, the movement of pro-Palestinian American students is growing by the hour after leaving Columbia University in New York more than a week ago.