2023-12-05 20:50:51
To better understand the latest events in the conflict between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel, 20 Minutes takes stock every evening. Between the strong declarations, the diplomatic advances or the dramatic results of the fighting, here are the main points of the day.
The fact of the day
After Gaza City, it is the turn of Khan Younes to be the scene of ground fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas. “We are in the heart of Jabaliya, in the heart of Choujaiya (two localities in the north of the Gaza Strip) and now also in the heart of Khan Younes,” Israeli General Yaron Finkelman, head of the Southern Command, said on Tuesday, estimating that it is the “most intense day since the start of the Israeli ground offensive”.
On foot, on motorbikes, crammed into carts or with their luggage piled on the roof of their cars, many civilians fled Khan Younes again, the new epicenter of the war. On Tuesday morning, new scenes of chaos were repeated at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes, the largest in the south of the Gaza Strip, where patients are treated on the ground.
The number of the day
82. This is the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the offensive. In the afternoon, the army communications office told AFP that the number of soldiers killed so far in military operations in Gaza reached 80, following the death of five soldiers on Monday. In the evening, the army announced in a press release that two additional soldiers had fallen in combat on Tuesday. Israeli bombings in Gaza have left more than 16,200 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Sentence of the day
We are close to humanity’s darkest hour.”
Speaking by videoconference from Rafah, the head of WHO in the occupied Palestinian territories, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, told journalists in Geneva that the number of people leaving the central and southern Gaza Strip was “increasing significantly “.
“The situation is getting worse by the hour. The bombings are intensifying everywhere, including here in the southern areas,” he said. “A lot of people are desperate and almost in a state of permanent shock.” “This bombing and senseless loss of life must stop now, and we need a lasting ceasefire.”
“This war against children has resumed with ferocity on a scale surpassing anything we had seen in the South, and which is certainly on a par with anything we have seen in the North,” added a Unicef spokesperson, James Elder, from Cairo.
Today’s trend
The United States has announced the imposition of sanctions against Jewish settlers accused of attacks against Palestinians, in an attempt to stem violence in the occupied West Bank. “Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy against individuals suspected of helping to undermine peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including by committing acts of violence” against Palestinians, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, deeming this violence “unacceptable”.
The United States has condemned the violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians and urged Israeli authorities to stop it. “We continue to speak with Israeli leaders to make them understand that Israel must take additional measures to protect Palestinian civilians against attacks by extremists,” adds Antony Blinken in the press release. He also emphasizes that it is up to the Palestinian Authority to do “more to prevent Palestinian attacks against Israelis”.
#Khan #Younes #epicenter #fighting #situation #worses #Gaza