2023-10-23 20:32:36
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.
News of the day
Humanitarian aid, truce, convoy… These few words were on the lips of many world leaders this Monday. Because in the Gaza Strip, where 2.4 million Palestinians are crowded together, the situation is increasingly critical. International aid has started to arrive in trickles since Saturday via Egypt but only three convoys have passed, the last of which today. That is, in total, around fifty trucks… whereas according to the UN, at least 100 per day are needed to meet the needs of the population.
The United States announced on Sunday “that there would henceforth be a continuous flow of this crucial assistance into Gaza.” But the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, called on Monday for “more aid, more quickly” as well as a “humanitarian pause” to allow its distribution. France has joined this call. On the eve of a visit by President Emmanuel Macron to Tel Aviv, she called on Monday for a “humanitarian truce” which “could lead to a ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. Russian President Vladimir Putin also called for “unhindered” access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and for a “rapid ceasefire”.
The number of the day
5.000. The countdown is disastrous. At least 5,087 people, including 2,055 children, have died since the start of Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip, according to the report released Monday by the Health Ministry of Hamas, in power in the Palestinian territory. At least 15,273 people have been injured since October 7, added the same government.
Sentence of the day
A new target put on my back”
The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, victim for years of numerous anti-Semitic threats for which she filed several complaints, accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Monday of having put “a new target on her back”, in criticizing his supportive visit to Israel this weekend. The leader of France Insoumise (LFI) accused Yaël Braun-Pivet on Sunday of “camping in Tel Aviv to encourage the massacre” in Gaza. “Not in the name of the French people!” », he protested on X (formerly Twitter). “I don’t understand why it’s the Jewish identity that stands out: I’m French, I’m not practicing, I’m not a believer but some people just don’t see that anymore,” lamented Yaël Braun-Pivet, a little later supported by Elisabeth Borne.
Today’s trend
We must also look towards the north of Israel, where a conflict on the Lebanese border with the armed organization Hezbollah is brewing. The United States on Sunday warned Iran against any extension of the conflict, warning that it would act in the event of attacks against its interests and Israel. New military equipment will be sent to the Middle East and additional military forces will be placed there in a state of “preliminary deployment”, specified the American Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin.
Iran has warned that the situation could get “out of control” in the Middle East, which has become a “tinderbox”. Exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah (which has significant military resources) in the border area have increased since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Russia also got involved. The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, estimated that the ongoing American military buildup in the Middle East posed the risk of an “escalation” of the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas. He judged that “the more a State takes proactive measures of this type, the greater the risk, the greater the danger of escalation of the conflict”.
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