Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for Washington on Monday, where he is due to deliver a speech to Congress, while the army prepares for operations in a sector of the south of the territory targeted by a new call for evacuations.
Mr Netanyahu said as he left Israel that the visit was “very important” at a time of “great political uncertainty” following US President Joe Biden’s decision not to run again in November’s election.
Washington, Israel’s main ally and military supporter, had been irritated in recent months by the consequences of the Israeli response to the attack carried out on October 7 on its soil by Hamas, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, insisting on the protection of civilians and the entry of humanitarian aid.
Before delivering a speech to Congress on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu will meet with Joe Biden on Tuesday, his office said.
“The atmosphere has never been so tense […] “especially between the White House and the Israeli prime minister,” commented Steven Cook, a Middle East specialist at the American think tank Council on Foreign Relations.
“We can’t take it anymore”
In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli offensive continues against the Islamist movement Hamas and other Palestinian groups, particularly in regions which the army had announced it had regained control of.
On Monday, the army ordered people to leave the east of Khan Younis, the largest city in the south devastated by months of fighting, where it announced it was preparing an “intensive operation against terrorist organizations” after rocket fire towards Israel.
According to a map released by the army, residents of eastern Khan Younis should head west, towards the sea, in an area the army calls the “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi.
“We are going to live on the streets. And even the sidewalks are full of people and tents. We are exhausted. We can’t stand these movements anymore,” said Youssef Abu Taimah, a man who was leaving the city, displaced for the fourth time with his family.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, at least 14 people were killed by shelling in Khan Younis on Monday morning, while a medical source at the city’s Nasser Hospital put the death toll at 26.
Witnesses told AFP they saw heavy artillery fire in eastern Khan Younis governorate.
The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack in southern Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people abducted, 116 are still being held in Gaza, 42 of whom are dead, according to the army.
In response, the Israeli army launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed 38,983 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Israel.
Netanyahu under pressure
His visit to the United States comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, both allies of Iran, have opened fronts against Israel in support of Palestinians in the besieged territory.
A day after a Houthi drone attack killed one person in Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday bombed the strategic rebel-held port of Hodeida in western Yemen, killing six people and wounding dozens. It was the first strike claimed by Israel in Yemen.
As the fire caused by the Israeli bombardment rages in the port, the Houthis and Israel have exchanged new threats.
With Qatar and Egypt, Washington is trying to restart negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas associated with the release of the hostages. Mr. Netanyahu announced Sunday evening that he had given the green light to send a new delegation on Thursday to discuss an agreement.
The prime minister is under intense pressure from relatives of the hostages, who are demanding an agreement for their release. On Sunday, Israelis protested again at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, before Benjamin Netanyahu left for Washington.