2023-11-06 14:21:47
The Israeli army claims to have completely surrounded Gaza City after more than a week of intense fighting, dividing the territory in two, while the death toll in the Strip has now risen to 10,022, including 4,104 children.
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On Sunday night, under the cover of intense aerial bombardment from land, sea and air – accompanied by a communications blackout – Israeli troops surrounded the city as Hamas militants retreated to prepared positions inside the city. dense urban sprawl.
“Today there is northern Gaza and southern Gaza,” Admiral Daniel Hagari declared, calling it a “significant phase” in Israel’s war against Hamas, which rules the territory. Israeli media reports that troops are expected to enter Gaza City in force in the next 48 hours.
The latest moves on the ground are accompanied by growing speculation about the type of fighting that would unfold on the streets of Gaza City, amid suggestions that the Israel Defense Forces would try to avoid a costly war inside the Hamas tunnel system. .
The siege of the city came amid claims that the United States had indicated it would intervene militarily if Iran and Hezbollah attack Israel in support of Hamas, announcing that it had sent an Ohio-class guided missile submarine to the region.
The New York Times cites government sources as saying that the White House has also sent messages to Iran and Hezbollah that the United States would be willing to intervene militarily if attacks are launched against Israel. On Sunday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated the United States’ stance to deter “any state or non-state actor that attempts to escalate this conflict.”
In another sign of growing unrest, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two members of the paramilitary Israeli border police in East Jerusalem on Monday before being shot dead, according to police.
Diplomatic movements
Amid growing US diplomatic efforts to ensure a humanitarian pause in the fighting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Turkey to meet with his counterpart, Hakan Fidan.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself is scheduled to travel through remote northeastern Turkey this Monday in an apparent snub to Washington’s top diplomat. Blinken has supported Israel as he sought to assure regional players that Washington is focused on alleviating humanitarian suffering amid the ongoing ground offensive in Gaza.
Erdoğan said on Sunday that it was “Turkey’s duty,” as a supporter of an independent Palestinian state, to immediately stop the violence.
Tensions with Lebanon increased on Sunday after an Israeli attack on a car in the south of the country killed three children and their grandmother, according to information from Lebanese authorities.
Israel’s chief military spokesman said the army had attacked “Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon” in response to a missile attack on tanks that killed an Israeli citizen.
Blinken’s visit follows a whirlwind tour of the Middle East that included an unannounced visit to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday.
The US diplomat has faced a chorus of Arab calls for him to support an immediate ceasefire. The foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates met with Blinken in Amman on Saturday and also urged him to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire. Blinken also visited Iraq on Sunday and held talks with Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani.
Civil suffering
The latest moves come amid ongoing concern for Gaza’s civilian population, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claiming to have divided the besieged coastal strip in two and the Palestinian news agency WAFA reporting a “bombing unprecedented” by Israel.
The Jordanian military airdropped urgent medical aid to a Jordanian field hospital in Gaza early Monday, according to a social media message from Jordan’s king and state media reports. “It is our duty to help our brothers and sisters wounded in the war against Gaza. “We will always be there for our Palestinian brothers,” said King Abdullah.
Thank God, the Air Force members of our armed forces were able, at midnight tonight, to airdrop urgent medical and pharmaceutical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in the Gaza Strip. This is our duty to help the wounded and injured who are suffering as a result of the war on Gaza. Jordan will remain the supporter, supporter, and closest supporter of the Palestinian brothers pic.twitter.com/cvW0aX877K
– Abdullah bin Al Hussein (@KingAbdullahII) November 5, 2023
The director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been “very concerned” about reports of connection cuts in Gaza, as well as the “intense bombing” of the territory, and calls for their immediate restoration. all communication channels.
“Without connectivity, people who need immediate medical attention cannot contact hospitals and ambulances,” he said.
In a rare joint statement, the heads of key UN humanitarian agencies and international charities have called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, calling the situation “horrible” and “unacceptable”.
The heads of Unicef, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Save the Children, among other organizations, have condemned the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and affirm that “the horrific slaughter of even more civilians in Gaza is an outrage, as is leaving 2.2 million Palestinians without food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel.”
The UN reported on Sunday the deaths of 88 staff members of its Palestinian refugee agency, “the highest United Nations death toll ever recorded in a single conflict.”
The Hamas-run Health Ministry declared that at least 10,022 people have been killed in more than four weeks of war in Gaza. The operation began after militants killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.
An Israeli army spokesman said shelling in northern Gaza stopped for several hours on two days in a row to allow civilians safe passage to the south of the narrow coastal strip.
“We are not only telling them where to go, but we are also helping and creating much better humanitarian conditions in the south,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, without indicating whether those pauses would continue.
Conricus said there was access to water and humanitarian goods in southern Gaza, but that Hamas was preventing convoys from passing by shooting at them.
US Vice President Kamala Harris will call foreign leaders later on Monday to discuss the conflict and advance the White House’s efforts to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, her office has said.
The director of the CIA, William Burns, has arrived in Israel to talk about the war and the intelligence services with senior officials, according to information from the New York Times. Burns will also stop in other Middle Eastern countries to discuss the situation in Gaza, according to the Times, citing an unnamed US official.
Translation of Javier Biosca
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