Israel, at war with Hamas, is bombing the Gaza Strip again on Wednesday, which, following an agreement between the belligerents, is waiting to receive medicine for the Israeli hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid for the Palestinian population. Witnesses spoke in particular of bombings in the night near the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes (south) where, according to the Israeli army, Hamas officials are hiding. An AFP correspondent also reported a series of nighttime strikes in this city.
The main information:
- Hamas reported at least 81 deaths overnight in Khan Younis and other areas across Gaza, bringing the death toll to 24,448.
- The head of Qatari diplomacy specified that the medicines planned for the hostages in the hands of Hamas will arrive this Wednesday in the city of Al-Arich, in Egypt, “on board two planes of the Qatari armed forces, with a view to their transfer towards the Gaza Strip”
- The Palestinian Red Crescent announces the death of seven people in an Israeli army strike in the West Bank
At least 81 dead in Khan Younes, according to Hamas
Referring to “the most difficult and intense night in Khan Younes since the start of the war”, the terrorist movement reported at least 81 deaths during the night in this city and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, where the The humanitarian situation is considered “catastrophic” by the UN, which speaks of “risk of famine” and “deadly epidemics”.
The Israelis “told us to go south, we went south, but there is no safe place in Gaza, neither in the north, nor in the south, nor in the center. Everything is targeted, it is dangerous everywhere”, laments Oum Mouhammad Abou Odeh, who fled Beit Hanoun (north) to find himself in Rafah, in the south on the border with Egypt.
The Hamas-Israel conflict in brief
The war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians killed the same day, according to a count by the AFP based on official Israeli figures. Some 250 people were taken hostage and taken to Gaza during the attack, around 100 of whom were released during a truce at the end of November. According to Israeli authorities, 132 are still in Palestinian territory, of whom 27 are believed to have died.
In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007. According to a report released Thursday by the Hamas Ministry of Health, 24,448 people, the vast majority women, children and adolescents, were killed there in Israeli military operations. The Israeli army announced the death of two soldiers on Wednesday, bringing the number of its soldiers killed in Gaza to 192.
Hamas imposes conditions on the delivery of medicines
Hamas on Wednesday set new conditions for the entry into the Gaza Strip of medicines intended in particular for the hostages kidnapped on October 7, indicating in particular that it had refused the inspection of the convoy by the Israeli authorities. “Pharmaceutical trucks will return without Israeli inspection,” according to a tweet on the social network X from a senior official of the Palestinian Islamist movement, in power in the Gaza Strip. “We set several conditions” which Moussa Abou Marzouk details in this tweet.
In addition to inspecting the trucks, “for each box of medicine” that will go to the 45 hostages for whom they are intended, “a thousand boxes will go to the inhabitants of Gaza”; “The medicines will be supplied via a country we trust, Qatar and not France as Israel requested.” Once entering the Gaza Strip, the medicines, whether intended for the population or the hostages, will be “transported to four different hospitals in the Strip” of Gaza. Finally, Hamas calls for “more aid and medicine”.
A third of the hostages suffer from chronic illnesses
On Tuesday, Qatar announced an agreement between Israel and Hamas, negotiated jointly with France, “on the entry of medicine (…) for the hostages in exchange for a shipment of humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip. According to Doha, the medicines and aid destined for Gaza were to be sent on Wednesday to Al-Arich, Egypt, “aboard two Qatari armed forces planes”. An Egyptian security source reported on Wednesday morning the arrival of a Qatari plane in Al-Arich “carrying medicine”.
At least a third of the hostages suffer from chronic illnesses and require treatment, according to a recent report by the Hostage Families Collective, “Bring them home now.” In Nir Oz, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip, this collective is organizing a symbolic birthday for the youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas, who should have celebrated his first birthday on Thursday.
Hamas announced in November the deaths of the baby, his brother and his mother. Israeli authorities have not confirmed it and their relatives cling to hope that they are alive and will be freed. “It’s crazy to plan the birthday of someone who isn’t there, to put up all these balloons, to make cakes,” says Yossi Schneider, a member of the family.
Blinken calls on Israel to help, rather than hinder, Palestinian Authority in the name of its ‘security’
In Tel Aviv, Israeli anti-war protesters clashed with police on Tuesday evening during a rally against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and its war in Gaza. “It’s a vicious circle of endless violence that leads to nothing. Only a political solution will bring peace, equality and justice to the region,” protester Michal Sapri told AFP.
From Davos, Switzerland, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called on Israel, in the name of its “security”, to help rather than hinder the Palestinian Authority, which cannot function effectively without it. support”. In his statement on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Anthony Blinken spoke of “a stronger, reformed Palestinian Authority, which can effectively work for its people (…)” and which will need the “support and help of ‘Israel and not (of) its active opposition’.
Loud explosions in West Bank refugee camp
This week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that the “intensive” phase of armed operations in southern Gaza, after those almost completed in the north, would end “soon”. Meanwhile, violence has spread to the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had killed in an airstrike near Nablus a Palestinian described as the leader of a “terrorist cell” who was “planning an imminent large-scale terrorist attack.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent announced the death of seven people in an Israeli army strike in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northwest of the West Bank. At the start of the afternoon, an AFP photographer reported strong explosions and automatic weapons fire in this camp, while around twenty soldiers supported by drones and armored vehicles went from house to house.
Israel continues strikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon
This war also exacerbates regional tensions. On the Israeli-Lebanese border, where exchanges of fire are daily, the Israeli army announced on Tuesday new strikes against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.
The US military carried out new bombings in Yemen on Tuesday, this time saying it was targeting a site from which Houthi rebels were preparing to launch four missiles. The Houthis have increased attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea that they say are linked to Israel, claiming to act in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.