2023-11-03 23:17:23
The Israeli offensive continued this Friday on Gaza. According to Hamas, 9,227 people, mainly civilians, including 3,826 children, have been killed in the completely besieged enclave since October 7. On the Israeli side, more than 1,400 people have been killed since October 7, the majority civilians.
Israel sent “thousands” of Palestinian workers back to the Gaza Strip this Friday. Around 18,500 Gazans had work permits in Israel at the start of the war, according to Israeli authorities. The UN said it was “deeply concerned” about these forced transfers in the midst of war.
Because the strikes and ground operations continue: the Israeli army has surrounded Gaza City. Videos posted by Hamas show fighters from the Islamist group emerging from tunnels to attack Israeli tanks, whose progress is made difficult by the destruction.
France questions the attack on the French Institute
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that he refused “a temporary truce” with Hamas “without the release” of the more than 240 hostages kidnapped during the Hamas attack and held in Gaza. Shortly before, the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, visiting Israel, claimed to have discussed with Netanyahu the possibility of “humanitarian pauses” to protect Palestinian civilians, adding that “the only way to ensure” security of Israel was the creation of a Palestinian state.
The French president announced the holding of a “humanitarian conference” on November 9 in Paris. “The fight against terrorism is not an indiscriminate attack against civilian populations,” said Emmanuel Macron. France also expressed “surprise” and “incomprehension” on Friday regarding an Israeli strike that hit the French Institute in Gaza and demanded explanations from Israel. No French agent or national was in the institute, Paris said.
The Hamas government announced that an Israeli strike targeted an ambulance at the entrance to Gaza’s largest hospital on Friday, killing 13 people, it said. Israeli authorities confirmed that they had targeted the vehicle, used according to them by “a Hamas terrorist cell”.
The evacuations of foreign nationals, which began this Friday via the Rafah border post, continued. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, “448 foreigners and dual nationals” “including 96 children” were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt on Friday. According to Paris, 34 French people and their families were able to leave the Palestinian territory on Friday.
The powerful leader of Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, delivered a highly anticipated speech this Friday afternoon. He warned that the possibility of “total war” was “realistic”. “We tell the enemy who may think of attacking Lebanon or carrying out a preventive operation that it would be the biggest stupidity of its existence,” declared the leader of Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, in his first speech since the 7 october.
He also warned the United States, a close ally of Israel: “We are ready (to face) your fleet” in the Mediterranean “with which you threaten us,” he declared, believing that “he who wants to prevent a regional war must quickly stop the aggression in Gaza.
On the Israeli-Lebanese border, daily armed clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have left 70 dead in southern Lebanon since October 7, according to an AFP count, including 52 Hezbollah fighters and at least seven civilians. Eight soldiers and one civilian were killed on the Israeli side, according to authorities.
The situation is also “alarming and urgent” in the West Bank, warns the UN. Six Palestinians, between 17 and 26 years old, were killed this Friday in a series of incursions by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank, announced the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority.
More than 130 Palestinians killed in occupied West Bank
In the southern Hebron region, two Palestinians, aged 33 and 36, were killed during an Israeli army incursion into the al-Fawwar refugee camp, according to the Palestinian ministry and the Wafa agency.
The Israeli army also carried out a raid in the Qalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, during which a 19-year-old Palestinian was killed, according to the same sources. In addition, a Palestinian injured on Wednesday by Israeli fire in the Nablus region, in the north, died on Friday, the ministry said.
UN experts said Thursday that the Palestinian people were at “grave risk of genocide”. In the occupied West Bank, more than 130 Palestinians have been killed by fire from Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority. The United Nations estimates aid needs for the population of Gaza and the West Bank at $1.2 billion until the end of 2023.
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