2024-05-13 20:34:34
This Thursday, Israel continued the bombings in Gazaeven in Rafahdespite the threat from the United States to stop sending certain types of weapons if the government of Benjamin Netanyahu orders to invade that city in the south of the Palestinian territory in its war against Hamas.
The destination of Rafah, on the border with Egyptas well as that of the hostages captured on October 7 in Israel by Islamist commandos, are the focus of indirect negotiations in Cairo to reach a truce, after seven months of a conflict that devastated the Strip area.
According to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), some 80 thousand people have fled Rafah since May 6, when Israel He ordered the evacuation of the east of the city where he estimates that the last Hamas battalions were holed up.
On Tuesday, Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, key for the entry of humanitarian aid, and threatens to expand its offensive to the entire city, where according to the UN, 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded, the majority displaced by war.
The American president, Joe Biden, threatened to suspend the shipment of artillery shells and other weapons to Israel “if they enter Rafah.”
“Civilians have died in Gaza as a result of those bombs” and that “is wrong,” Biden said in an interview with CNN.
Netanyahu stated in the evening that Israel was determined to “remain alone.”
“If we have to be left alone, we will be left alone,” he stated, without explicitly referring to the statements of Biden.
Washington, Israel’s main ally, has already suspended a shipment of heavy bombs, a senior US official said Wednesday.
They ask to release Hamas hostages
The Argentine-Israeli brothers Gabriela Leimberg y Fernando Marman, exrehenes de Hamas in Gaza, they visited the Auschwitz concentration camp and said they only seek one thing: the release of all the other kidnapped people.
A delegation from Israel, made up of relatives of hostages and survivors of the October 7 attack, participated on Monday in the former Nazi camp in Poland in the “March of the Living,” which pays tribute each year to the six million Jews who They died during World War II.
All those present wore traditional yellow ribbons in solidarity with those still kidnapped in the Gaza Stripwhere Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas They have been at war for seven months.
“For us it is still October 7, and it will remain so until all the hostages come home,” he said. Leimberg to the AFP before the ancient gate of Auschwitz, who was liberated during the first week-long truce in November 2023. / AFP
Israel qualifies Eurovision final
Israel qualified for the weekend’s Eurovision final on Thursday after thousands of flag-waving protesters propalestinas They protested in the Swedish city of Malmö against his participation in the contest in the midst of the Gaza war.
This tension did not affect the gala of the second semi-final, in which the singer Eden Golan was able to perform her song “Hurricane” without incident before 9 thousand spectators at the Malmö Arena.
The young Israeli, who had received threats online, obtained a pass to Saturday’s final, where Croatia, Switzerland and Ukraine They are favorites.
Before his performance, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, He wished him luck and stated that he had already “won” after enduring protests that he described as a “horrible wave of anti-Semitism.” / AFP
Road closures brake help:UN
Israel’s closure of some key roads into Gaza is preventing the entry of aid, and particularly fuel, making humanitarian operations almost impossible, warned Andrea De Domenico, who heads the humanitarian office of the United Nations, OCHA, in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“We lost the main entry point for all humanitarian aid,” the official said.
Israel closed on Sunday Kerem Shalom between Israel and southern Gaza, through which most humanitarian aid enters the Palestinian territory, after a Hamas missile barrage killed four Israeli soldiers in the area.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army seized and closed the Palestinian side of the nearby Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. / AFP
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2024-05-13 20:34:34