Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling targeted the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, where the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas will enter its ninth month as mediators redouble their efforts to secure a ceasefire. -fire.
Israeli military operations have been concentrated in recent days in the center of the Palestinian territory, after having mainly affected Rafah, in the south, where the army launched a ground offensive at the beginning of May, presented by Israel as the final stage of its war against Hamas launched after an unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7.
Loading their meager belongings onto vehicles, carts and wheelchairs, displaced people fled the Palestinian camp of al-Boureij on Wednesday in search of a safe place, AFP correspondents reported.
During the night, a strike near the camp entrance and artillery fire southeast of nearby Deir al-Balah left several people dead, according to witnesses.
The al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah has received since Tuesday “at least 70 dead and more than 300 injured, mostly women and children, following Israeli strikes on the central areas of the Gaza Strip” , declared Médecins sans Frontières on X.
“The smell of blood in the emergency room this morning was unbearable. There are people lying everywhere, on the ground, outside. Bodies were brought in plastic bags. The situation is unbearable,” said Karin Huster, MSF coordinator for Gaza.
According to hospital sources and Civil Defense, at least eleven people were killed overnight in the area.
Discussions in Qatar
The Israeli army confirmed carrying out operations in al-Boureij and Deir al-Balah, claiming to have “eliminated” several Hamas members.
After almost eight months of war, Egypt, the United States and Qatar, which play the role of mediators, are continuing their efforts to try to convince the belligerents to conclude a ceasefire, a few days after the announcement of the American President, Joe Biden, of a road map proposed according to him by Israel.
This provides, initially, a six-week ceasefire accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of certain hostages taken to the Palestinian territory during the Hamas attack in Israel, as well as Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The director of the CIA, William Burns, is expected in Doha on Wednesday to “continue to work with the mediators to reach an agreement” on a ceasefire, according to a source close to the negotiations.
Al-Qahera News, a media outlet close to Egyptian intelligence, reported that an Egyptian delegation would meet its Qatari and American counterparts in Doha on Wednesday, citing a highly placed source.
According to the American site Axios, Joe Biden’s special adviser for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, is expected in Cairo.
Guarantees
The war was sparked by the attack on southern Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians killed that day. , according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
Of the 251 people taken as hostages on the day of the attack, 120 are still detained in Gaza, of whom 41 have died according to the Israeli army. A truce in November allowed the release of around a hundred hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
In response to the attack, the Israeli army launched a deadly offensive in the small coastal territory where Hamas took power in 2007. At least 36,586 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the war , according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government, including 36 in 24 hours.
The conflicting demands from both camps leave little hope of seeing the plan announced by Mr. Biden come to fruition. Hamas insists on a “permanent ceasefire”, while Israel says it wants to destroy the Palestinian movement, which it considers a terrorist organization, as do the United States and the European Union.
On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the Israeli war cabinet decided to ask the United States for guarantees to be able to continue the war if Hamas violated the agreement, according to Israeli public television Kan.
“Catastrophic” situation
On a humanitarian level, the Israeli offensive on Rafah led to the closure of the crossing point with Egypt, essential for the passage of international aid to the besieged territory which had 2.4 million Palestinians at the start of the war.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it was continuing its activities in the Rafah area, where clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups took place in the center of the city, according to witnesses.
“Conditions are catastrophic in Rafah, where the Israeli army is working to destroy […] everything that allows you to live in these areas and in the Gaza Strip in general,” Moustafa Ibrahim, a 60-year-old displaced Palestinian, assured AFP.
Cogat, an agency of the Israeli Ministry of Defense responsible for managing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, indicated on Tuesday that the Israeli terminal of Kerem Shalom, another crossing to the Gaza Strip, was at “full capacity”.
“We are not even close to the level where we need to be,” lamented the head of UN humanitarian operations, Martin Griffiths, on X.
On another front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was “ready for a very intense operation” on the border with Lebanon, where the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah exchanges daily fire with the Israeli army, in support for Hamas.
On Monday, Hezbollah rocket and drone fire caused several fires in northern Israel.