2023-12-26 00:44:24
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited Gaza this Monday and promised to further intensify the offensive against Hamas, which denounced the death of a hundred inhabitants of that Palestinian territory devastated by more than two months of war.
In the last hours, More than 100 people were killed in four Israeli bombings, denounced the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, governed by Hamas since 2007.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, promised to continue “fighting” and “intensify the fighting in the coming days,” according to a statement from his party, the Likud.
“It will be a long war that is not close to ending”he stated, after a visit to the besieged territory, where Israel launched a ground and air offensive in response to the Hamas attack on October 7.
That day, Hamas commandos infiltrated southern Israel and They killed about 1,140 peoplemostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli data.
Along with other armed groups, They also kidnapped some 240 people and 129 remain captive in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
In response, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas and launched an offensive that has already left 20,674 dead in Gaza, according to the Islamist movement, classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
Israeli air force bombed Gaza massively early this Monday.
One of the bombings, near the town of Al Zawaida, in the center of the territory, left 12 dead, according to Hamas. Another left 18 dead in Khan Yunis, in the south of the enclave.
The Gaza Health Ministry also reported that at least 70 people died on Sunday by an Israeli bombing in the Al Maghazi refugee camp, in the center of the Strip.
Israeli troops in military operations in the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Xinhua Photo
The Israeli army told AFP that was “investigating” this “incident.”
Word of the Pope
From the Vatican, Pope Francis denounced in his Christmas message “the desperate humanitarian situation” of the Palestinians of Gaza and called for a ceasefire.
In Gaza, the war caused widespread devastation and its 2.4 million inhabitants are suffering from shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine due to the siege imposed by Israel two days after the Hamas attack.
Since then, The population desperately depends on the influx of humanitarian aid.
80% of the population has been displaced by the war, according to the UN, and many fled to the south of this narrow 362 km2 territory and now subsist in tents, exposed to the cold.
The head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, stated that “The only way out is a humanitarian ceasefire.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Gaza Strip. AP Photo
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, lamented “the destruction of Gaza’s health system”, which he described as “a tragedy.”
Netanyahu, sin embargo, appears inflexible although he admitted on Sunday that his country was paying “a high price for the war.”
The Israeli army reported this Monday the death of two more soldiers, bringing the casualties suffered since Friday to 17. In total, 156 Israeli military personnel have been killed since the start of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza in late October.
Palestinian fighters fired rockets into Israel on Mondayl. Most are usually intercepted by the Israeli anti-missile defense system.
Before Parliament, the Israeli leader explained this Monday that the troops needed “more time” to rescue the hostages still held captive in Gaza.
But his speech was interrupted by relatives of these hostages. “Now! Now!” they yelled at Netanyahu.
“What if it were your son”, “80 days, every minute is hell”, could be read on the banners raised by the families during the session.
In the evening, some of the relatives gathered outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, just before a planned war cabinet meeting.
“Release our hostages now! Whatever the price!”said one of the posters.
The Israeli army claimed to have found in the compound of a hospital in Gaza the vehicle of a hostage kidnapped by Hamas and killed “by mistake” by Israeli troops.
“The discovery of the vehicle directly links the hospital to the brutal events of October 7,” he noted. This information could not be independently corroborated.
Since the start of the war, the Israeli army has accused Hamas of using hospitals as “command centers” for its operations, which the group rejects.
The impacts of the conflict outside the borders of Israel and Gaza have raised fears of regional escalation.
After the multiplication of attacks against ships in the Red Sea, claimed mostly by Yemen’s Houthi rebelsThe United States accused Iran of being “deeply involved” in the planning of these attacks, an accusation denied by Tehran.
Iran announced on Monday the death of a top Revolutionary Guard general in an Israeli bombing in Syria and President Ebrahim Raisi promised that Israel “will pay” for killing a top military leader.
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