2023-12-17 16:52:38
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Visiting the Middle East, the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, called this Sunday, December 17 upon her arrival in Israel for a “new immediate and lasting truce” in the Gaza Strip, while her Israeli counterpart describes everything call for ceasefire “error”.
Wishing to put pressure on Hamas, Israel launched new rockets into the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the World Health Organization considers the state of the emergency departments of al-Chifa hospital very worrying, with some patients being treated on the floor.
⇒ Visiting Israel, Catherine Colonna calls for an “immediate and lasting” truce
⇒ The emergency departments at al-Chifa hospital are “a bloodbath” and are only functioning at a minimum, according to the WHO
⇒ Israel launched new strikes on Gaza this Sunday and intends to increase military pressure
Gaza: telecommunications partially restored after three days of outage
Telecommunications were partially restored this Sunday in the Gaza Strip after three days of outage, announced the Palestinian operator Paltel. The company reported in a press release the “gradual restoration” of the network in the center and south of the territory.
Israeli army says it has discovered the ‘largest tunnel’ dug under the Gaza Strip
The Israeli army claimed this Sunday to have discovered during its offensive “the largest tunnel” that Hamas has dug under the Gaza Strip and leading only a few hundred meters from its territory. An AFP photographer who was authorized to go there noted that it was of sufficient size to allow small vehicles to circulate.
READ ALSO >> Gaza: will the Israeli army flood the Hamas tunnels?
“This massive network of tunnels, which is divided into several branches, extends for more than four kilometers and comes only 400 meters from the Erez crossing point” between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli armed forces said in a statement. Israeli forces say it cost millions of euros and was dug for years under the direction of Mohamed Sinouar, brother of Yahya Sinouar, the Hamas leader considered the architect of the October 7 attack.
First aid convoy through Israeli crossing arrives in Gaza
A first humanitarian aid convoy entered the Gaza Strip this Sunday through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing point, according to a source from the Egyptian Red Crescent. In total, “79 trucks started entering today,” said this source on condition of anonymity.
Israel announced on Friday that it had “temporarily” approved the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through one of its crossing points, in order to decongest that of Rafah between the Palestinian territory and Egypt, which had been since the start of the war the only entry point for food and medicine trucks into Gaza. This announcement was made after a visit to Israel by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
In the occupied West Bank, Catherine Colonna denounces settler violence
The head of French diplomacy denounced this Sunday, in a small town near Ramallah, the violence committed by settlers in the occupied West Bank. “These are serious acts which undermine the prospect of a political solution and which weaken the Palestinian Authority, which perhaps can even push towards new developments and a destabilization of the West Bank, which is not, yet once, in the well-understood interest of Israel,” said Catherine Colonna.
Lebanon: calls for “de-escalation” apply to all parties, assures Colonna
The international community’s calls for “de-escalation” on the Israeli-Lebanese border apply to all parties, including Israel, the head of French diplomacy declared on Sunday at a military base near Tel Aviv. “If there was a spiral, a conflagration, I believe that no one would benefit from it and I also say this to Israel,” said Catherine Colonna in the presence of a senior official of the Israeli army. France, in particular, is “sending the necessary messages” to the Lebanese authorities and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, but “this call for caution and de-escalation applies to everyone”, she insisted.
Attacks in the Red Sea “cannot go unanswered”, says France
The head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna, visiting Israel, declared this Sunday that the attacks in the Red Sea perpetrated by Houthi rebels from Yemen “cannot remain unanswered”. “We are studying several “defensive” options with our partners” in particular to “prevent this from happening again,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs during a press briefing upon her arrival in Tel Aviv.
READ ALSO >> Attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea: why France is on the front line
In recent weeks, Yemeni rebels, close to Iran, have increased attacks near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa. The Houthis have warned they will target ships sailing off the coast of Yemen with links to Israel, in response to the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Catherine Colonna in Israel to call for a truce
The head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, arrived in Israel this Sunday and called for an “immediate and lasting” truce in the Gaza Strip. “Too many civilians are being killed,” she declared after a meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, in Tel Aviv. She stressed that the first one-week truce ended on December 1 had made it possible to free hostages – 105 out of the 250 taken by force by Hamas during the October 7 attack – and to increase humanitarian aid to the civilians in Gaza while evacuating wounded. “We know it’s not enough,” she said. Eli Cohen estimated that France could play an “important role” to prevent a war with the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, which supports Hamas and has increased its shooting towards Israel since October 8.
READ ALSO >> Israel – Hamas: “humanitarian truce”, “ceasefire”… The war of words
France condemned on Saturday an Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip which caused the death of one of its agents and demanded that “all light be shed”. “It is with great emotion that the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs learned of the death of one of its agents, who died as a result of his injuries during an Israeli bombing in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip,” the Quai d’Orsay said in a statement.
Emergency room at al-Chifa hospital ‘a bloodbath’, says WHO
The emergency department of al-Chifa hospital, in northern Gaza devastated by Israeli bombings, is “a bloodbath”. And what was the largest hospital in the Palestinian territory now needs “to be resuscitated”, wrote the World Health Organization (WHO) this Sunday.
READ ALSO >> Attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea: why France is on the front line
A team from WHO and other UN agencies was able to deliver medical equipment on Saturday to the hospital, where “tens of thousands of displaced people” took refuge within the hospital complex to get shelter. sheltered, underlines the WHO press release, specifying that drinking water and food “are lacking”.
According to the organization’s team who visited the hospital, “patients suffering from trauma are sutured on the floor and the means to manage pain are very limited or non-existent.” The hospital is only functioning at a minimum and with a very reduced team and “critical patients are transferred to Ahli Arab hospital for surgical interventions”.
Israel launches new strikes on Gaza
Israel launched new strikes on the Gaza Strip on Sunday as Israeli leaders face growing pressure to negotiate and secure the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas. At least 12 people were killed in the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, the Hamas health ministry said. Witnesses also reported Israeli bombardment on the southern town of Bani Suheila.
Five Palestinians were also killed this Sunday morning in the Tulkarem refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, during a raid by the Israeli army, announced the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The death toll rose to five after the announcement of the deaths of two men aged 19 and 21 in hospital, the Palestinian ministry said.
Netanyahu wants to maintain “military pressure”
READ ALSO >> Israeli Muslim hostages: “Hamas considers us worse than the Jews”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Saturday evening that he wanted to maintain “military pressure” against the Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, despite the emotion aroused in Israel by the death of three hostages killed “by mistake” by soldiers.
“The death of the three hostages “broke my heart. This has broken the hearts of the entire nation,” he said at a press conference. He added, however, that “military pressure is necessary both for the return of the hostages and to ensure victory over our enemies”. Several media outlets affirm that after the fiasco for the army of the three hostages killed, the Israeli authorities are returning to the path of negotiations.
Negotiations?
After the announcement of the death of three hostages, the American news site Axios reported a meeting this weekend in Europe between David Barnea, the head of Mossad, the Israeli foreign secret service, and the Prime Minister Qatari, Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani, to discuss a second truce with a view to the release of hostages.
The meeting was to focus on a second phase of truce, in order to allow the release of hostages, continues Axios without specifying in particular the number of hostages who could be released. “The directives that I give to the negotiating team are based on this (military pressure on Gaza) and without it we have nothing,” Netanyahu said, without further details. According to the website of the Israeli daily Time, the meeting took place.
Shipping suspended
The Swiss shipowner MSC announced on Saturday that it was suspending, like the CMA CGM, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd groups, the crossing of the Red Sea by its ships after attacks perpetrated against ships by Houthi rebels from Yemen, who say act in support of Hamas.
A US warship operating in the Red Sea on Saturday shot down 14 drones launched from “Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen”, according to the US military Middle East Command (Centcom).
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