The Israeli army is now “in the heart” of Gaza City, in the north, where ground fighting and the bombing campaign have intensified in recent days to “destroy Hamas”, the minister said Tuesday evening of Defense Yoav Gallant. “There will be no humanitarian truce without the return of the hostages,” added the Israeli minister. More than 240 people were kidnapped, according to Israel, on the day of the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7 that sparked the war.
Information to remember:
- More than 240 people kidnapped, says Israel
- At least 1,400 people have died in Israel
- More than 10,569 people including 4,324 children have died in Gaza
- “There will be no humanitarian truce without the return of the hostages,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said
Qatar negotiates hostage release in exchange for Gaza ceasefire
Qatar is negotiating the release of around ten hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a ceasefire in this territory in the hands of the Palestinian movement and bombarded by Israel, the AFP a source close to the discussions. The Gulf country is conducting mediation “in coordination with the United States (…) to obtain the release of 10 to 15 hostages in exchange for a ceasefire of one to two days”, indicated this source on condition of anonymity.
Hamas announces new death toll of 10,569
Hamas authorities announced Wednesday that 10,569 people had been killed in Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7. Among the deaths recorded to date are 4,324 children and 2,823 women.
The G7 supports the establishment of “humanitarian breaks and corridors”
The foreign ministers of the G7 countries expressed their support on Wednesday for “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in Gaza, in particular to allow the “urgent” delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory and the evacuation of threatened civilians by fighting.
Meeting in Tokyo, they affirmed that Israel had “the right to defend itself in accordance with international law”, while emphasizing “the importance of protecting civilians”. The G7 ministers also urged Iran not to support Hamas and Hezbollah and not to do anything that could “destabilize the Middle East.”
Antony Blinken says Israel must not ‘reoccupy’ Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel should not “re-occupy” the Gaza Strip at the end of the ongoing conflict with Hamas, following a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Tokyo.
The United States had already expressed its opposition to a possible reoccupation of Palestinian territory on Tuesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the day before that his country would take “overall responsibility for security” in Gaza “for an indefinite period.”
Calls for a ceasefire are increasing
At least 1,400 people died, the majority civilians killed on the same day of the Hamas attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history. On the Palestinian side, more than 10,300 people, the majority civilians, including 4,237 children, have died in Gaza since October 7, according to the report Tuesday from the Hamas Ministry of Health. Hamas’ communications service in Gaza said Tuesday evening on Telegram that several cemeteries in the territory “are full and there is no more space for burials.”
Faced with a catastrophic humanitarian situation in the small besieged territory, calls for a ceasefire have multiplied from the UN, NGOs, leaders of the Arab world and other countries. “Our incessant requests for the establishment of an immediate ceasefire have remained unanswered,” lamented Tuesday evening the organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which announced the death of one of its employees in a bombing of the Shati refugee camp, on the outskirts of Gaza City.
Red Cross humanitarian aid convoy targeted by gunfire
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on the parties to put an end to the suffering of civilians, deploring a “moral failure”. This organization announced on Tuesday that one of its humanitarian aid convoys to the Palestinian Red Crescent’s al-Quds hospital had been targeted by fire, the source of which it did not specify. “These are not conditions in which humanitarian staff can work,” said William Schomburg, local ICRC official.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing figures from the Hamas health ministry, 192 health workers have been killed since the start of the war. The idea of a ceasefire was also rejected by the United States, Israel’s close allies, which instead advocates “humanitarian pauses” and insists on “Israel’s right to defend itself”. According to several diplomatic sources, the G7 foreign ministers, meeting in Tokyo, are seeking to unite on Wednesday to call for “humanitarian pauses”.
Gazans subjected to total siege
For Gaza’s 2.4 million residents, despair is intense after a month of uninterrupted bombardment. “Stop this machine of destruction. Save us,” implored Tuesday Hicham Koulab, a displaced Palestinian, caught up in the bombings in Rafah, in the south of the territory. Trapped in their territory of 362 km2, Gazans have also been subjected since October 9 to a total siege which deprives them of deliveries of water, electricity and food.
“Four to six hours of waiting on average to receive half of a normal portion of bread”
In the north, “many people desperately seeking food entered the last three bakeries where stocks of wheat flour remained” on Tuesday, according to OCHA, which counted 650 humanitarian aid trucks entering the territory since October 21 through Rafah, the only crossing point in the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel with Egypt.
In the south, it takes “four to six hours of waiting on average to receive half of a normal portion of bread”, specified OCHA, according to which some 600 people, holders of foreign passports, and 17 injured, were able to be evacuated on Tuesday by Rafah.
The Israeli army has increased calls for civilians to leave the north to take refuge in the south, which it believes is safer. But the bombings also continue to affect this part of the territory, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crowded together. The territory has more than 1.5 million internally displaced people.
In Israel, the population gathered Tuesday in silence, prayer and tears in tribute to the victims of the October 7 attack which traumatized the country. “The atrocities have left a terrible scar, trauma on a personal level but also on a national level,” said Asher Cohen, the president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, several graduates of which were killed.
While Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed Monday evening that his country would take, “for an indefinite period, general responsibility for security” in the Palestinian territory to prevent a return of Hamas, an organization described as “terrorist” by the United States and the European Union.
These comments provoked a reaction from the United States, which affirmed that “generally speaking, we do not support a reoccupation of Gaza”, according to the spokesperson for the American Department of State, Vedant Patel. White House spokesman John Kirby said that “there is one thing that there is absolutely no doubt about: Hamas cannot be part of the equation.”
Reacting to Mr. Kirby’s statement, Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou said on Telegram that “what Kirby said about the future of Gaza after Hamas is a fantasy. Our people are in symbiosis with the resistance and he alone will decide his future.
Violence increases in the West Bank
While the international community fears an extension of the conflict, Mr. Netanyahu warned Tuesday evening that Hezbollah would make “the mistake of its life” if it entered the war head on. There are daily exchanges of fire on the Israeli-Lebanese border, between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, allied with Hamas and pro-Iranian.
Violence has also increased in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where more than 150 Palestinians have been killed by fire from Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority.