The head of the United Nations called on Sunday to guarantee the continuation of the operations of the agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), at the center of a controversy linked to the October 7 attack perpetrated by Hamas from the Gaza Strip where the Israeli army continues its offensive on Khan Younes. The Israeli army spoke of “intense fighting” in the large city in the south of the Palestinian territory, indicating that it had eliminated “terrorists and seized large quantities of weapons”.
At the same time, this Sunday, contacts took place on Sunday in Paris between CIA Director William Burns and senior officials from Egypt, Qatar and Israel, in order to discuss a truce agreement in the war in Gaza, sources close to the participants in these meetings said. These four countries also had contacts with the French authorities, according to the same sources, the objective being to progress towards an agreement including a truce in the fighting and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Information to remember:
- UN chief Antonio Guterres called on donor countries that have suspended funding to UNRWA to “at least guarantee” the continuation of its operations
- The Israeli army spoke of “intense fighting” on Khan Younes
- Discussions took place this Sunday in Paris between the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar to discuss a truce agreement in Gaza
The UN calls for guaranteeing the activities of UNRWA
In New York, Antonio Guterres called on donor countries that have suspended their funding to UNRWA to “at least guarantee” the continuation of its operations, essential in the small, besieged and overpopulated territory. “Two million civilians in Gaza depend on critical aid from UNRWA for their daily survival, but current UNRWA funding will not allow it to meet all needs in February,” he insisted. .
Several countries, including the United States and Germany, the two largest contributors, suspended any additional aid to UNRWA after the announcement on Friday that twelve of its employees were suspected of having participated in the bloody attack on Hamas in southern Israel on October 7.
“Despicable acts”
This unprecedented attack led to the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures. In response, Israel launched a vast military operation that left 26,422 people dead, the vast majority of them women, children and adolescents, according to a report released Sunday by the Hamas Ministry of Health. Israel has vowed to “annihilate” the Islamist movement, classified as terrorist by the United States, the European Union and Israel.
Antonio Guterres confirmed that 12 UNRWA employees were concerned by these “extremely serious accusations” which are the subject of an internal UN investigation. The agency has separated nine of them, one is “confirmed dead”, and the identities of two others are “in the process of being clarified”, he said. “The alleged despicable actions of these employees must have consequences” but should not penalize “the tens of thousands of men and women who work” for the agency, he stressed.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, accused Antonio Guterres of choosing to ignore “evidence” of UNRWA’s involvement in “incitement and terrorism.” Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, denounced “threats” against the agency.
Fights around hospitals
An Unrwa shelter was the target of deadly gunfire on Wednesday in Khan Younes. Considered by Israel as a Hamas stronghold, this city is now at the heart of the war. The fighting took place in particular around the Nasser and al-Amal hospitals.
Around 350 patients and 5,000 displaced people were at Nasser hospital on Saturday, “short of fuel, food and supplies”, according to Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, surgical operations are suspended at al-Amal hospital due to lack of oxygen.
South of Khan Younes, more than 1.3 million displaced Gazans are massed in Rafah in “conditions of desperation”, against the closed border with Egypt, according to the UN. The streets where wastewater flows are filled with hundreds of thousands of tents, paltry shelters against the torrential rains of recent days, according to an AFP journalist. The city was not spared from bombs either. “There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip. Everything that is said is false,” said Mohammed Al-Chaer, a resident, in his devastated neighborhood.
Protests in Israel
On the 114th day of war, Qatar, Egypt and the United States must restart discussions to reach a new truce, which would include the release of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Some 250 people were kidnapped in Israel during the October 7 attack and taken to Gaza, including around 100 released at the end of November during a truce. According to Israeli authorities, 132 hostages are still held in the Gaza Strip, including 28 presumed dead.
The director of the CIA, the American intelligence service, will meet “in the coming days in Paris” his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts, as well as the Qatari Prime Minister, to try to conclude an agreement, according to a security source. According to the New York Times, citing American officials, negotiators are due to discuss a draft agreement this Sunday in the French capital that would involve a two-month truce and the release of more than 100 hostages.
Several thousand people demonstrated on Saturday evening in Israel, particularly in Tel Aviv, to demand the return of the hostages and the resignation of the government in view of new elections. But in a televised address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his determination: “if we do not eliminate the Hamas terrorists (…) the next massacre is only a matter of time.”