2023-12-10 06:08:00
The Israeli army tightens its grip on the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, where hundreds of thousands of people are desperately trying to protect themselves from fierce fighting with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Early Sunday, Israeli aircraft carried out “very violent air raids” near Khan Yunis, and on the road between this town and that of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, the Hamas administration said. An AFP journalist was able to observe the strikes in southern Gaza.
The Israeli army said it had “intensified” its operations in these areas of the southern Gaza Strip. “We must increase the pressure,” said his army chief of staff Herzi Halevi, reporting a growing number of Hamas fighters “killed”.
At the very beginning of its ground offensive, the Israeli army asked the population of the northern Gaza Strip to go to the south.
But with the intensification of fighting in the south, and after an American veto at the UN on a resolution proposing a ceasefire, fears are growing for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and particularly in the south.
“Death sentence”
A large part of the 1.9 million Gazans who fled the fighting and the bombs find themselves cornered in Rafah, transformed into a vast refugee camp.
Diseases are spreading due to overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions in the shelters of the UN agency dedicated to Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the south of the territory.
“Nearly a million children have been forcibly displaced and are being pushed further and further south into tiny, overcrowded areas without water, food and protection,” said the UNICEF director. for the Middle East, Adele Khodr.
“Restrictions on the delivery of life-saving aid through the Gaza Strip are an additional death sentence for children,” she added.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, the death toll exceeds 17,700 in the narrow strip of land, most of them women and children, since the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza which aims to “annihilate” this movement classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
Israel launched this operation after the unprecedented attack perpetrated on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into Israeli territory, during which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to the authorities. Around 240 people were taken hostage and taken to Gaza where 137 are still being held according to the army.
“We will dance again”
At the end of November, 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis, were released as part of a seven-day truce agreement, in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
On Saturday evening, several hundred people gathered in Tel Aviv to call on the government to negotiate the release of the other hostages whose families are still consumed by anguish.
“I prefer to see my children released through negotiations, not military actions, because I am afraid that they will be killed by the army,” Yechi Yehud, father of Arbel and Dolev, a sister and his brother.
“Every day their lives are in danger, whether from Hamas or the activities of the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip. Rescue attempts will not save them,” said Naama Weinberg, cousin of ‘Itay Svirsky, hostage in Gaza.
Mia Schem, an Israeli kidnapped during the Nova music festival and then released as part of the truce at the end of November, posted a portrait photo on Instagram, showing a new tattoo on her forearm: “We will dance again 71023” ( “We will dance again, October 7, 2023”).
On Arab social networks, the video of an Israeli soldier smashing objects in a small business in Gaza was playing in a loop. Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army described this behavior as “inappropriate”, which is the subject of an “examination”.
“Death follows us”
After a little more than two months of war, entire neighborhoods of Gaza are now fields of ruins and more than half of the homes have been destroyed or damaged, according to the UN.
Thousands of people have found shelter at the al-Chifa hospital, out of service after being evacuated by the Israeli army around two weeks ago, according to an AFP journalist. Displaced people have set up hundreds of makeshift tents made of fabric covered with plastic or nylon in gardens and courtyards.
“We took refuge in al-Chifa hospital. (…) We do not know if they will storm the hospital again. No matter where we go, death follows us,” said to AFP Suheil Abou Dalfa, 56, whose house was hit by a shell and his 20-year-old son injured.
The American government approved “urgently”, without going through Congress, the sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 120 mm shells equipping the Merkava battle tanks engaged in the offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
From Lebanon to Yemen
Tensions outside Gaza still raise the specter of a widening of the conflict.
Iran, a key backer of Hamas, has warned of “the possibility” of an “uncontrollable explosion” in the Middle East, while Yemen’s Houthi rebels, backed by Tehran, have threatened to attack any ship in the Red Sea heading towards Israel if the people of the Gaza Strip do not receive the aid they need.
On Israel’s northern border, exchanges of fire have increased between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, an ally of Hamas supported by Iran, since the start of the war.
A U.N. peacekeeping position in southern Lebanon was hit on Saturday without causing any casualties, the U.N. force said, adding that it was verifying the origin of the shots.
10/12/2023 05:06:07 – Jerusalem (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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