Israel and Hamas at war, day 22 | A “long and difficult” conflict

The war against Hamas will be “long and difficult”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, announcing the “second phase” of his military operation in the Gaza Strip, where access to the internet and cellular network gradually returned Sunday morning. Cut off from the world for more than twenty-four hours, the first testimonies coming from the enclave described scenes of distress.

“We are going to save our country. We will fight in the air, on the ground. We will fight, and we will win,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised speech.

Three weeks after the bloody attack of October 7, he recalled the objectives of the military operation in the Gaza Strip: destroy Hamas and free the hostages.

The Palestinian Islamist movement poses an “existential” threat to Israel, the prime minister said, adding that the conflict was entering its “second phase.”

Since Friday evening, the Israeli army has been operating on the ground with soldiers and armored vehicles, while intensifying its bombardments of the Palestinian enclave.

According to the spokesperson for civil defense in Gaza, Mahmoud Bassal, “hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed” during the day on Saturday, increasing the number of people killed in the enclave since the start of the conflict. conflict at more than 8,000.

On Saturday, Israel once again urged residents of the northern Gaza Strip to flee to the south. “This is not a simple precaution, it is an urgent call,” an IDF spokesperson warned on Saturday.

The warning was notably broadcast on social networks, while the Gazan population had been deprived of access to the internet and cellular network since Friday.

Early Sunday morning, telephone communications and internet access were gradually returning to the Gaza Strip, Palestinian media reported.

“Total chaos”

Outside the Palestinian enclave, almost no details filtered through on the land incursions of the Israeli army.

If the first phase of the military operation aimed to “destroy Hamas’ infrastructure,” the second stage is to “eliminate pockets of resistance,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week.

As for the humanitarian situation, the first echoes from the field since the start of the communications cut described scenes of distress.

“It’s total chaos,” a BBC correspondent based in Gaza testified on Saturday.

“People are trying to contact family members in other areas to make sure they are safe, but the phones have been cut off,” he added, explaining that paramedics were heading straight to the scene. explosions, emergency calls no longer reaching them.

Without cellular network or internet, hospitals cannot function, underlined the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Palestine, Lynn Hastings.

“Wars have rules. Civilians must be protected,” she wrote on the X platform.

Deprived of the Internet

The Israeli army refused to confirm on Saturday whether its airstrikes were the cause of the abrupt breakdown of telecommunications in Gaza, as accused by the Palestinian authorities.

“We are doing what is necessary to ensure the security of our forces for as long as necessary, temporarily or permanently, and we will not say anything further on this matter,” said an IDF rear admiral.

On Saturday, Elon Musk announced that his Starlink satellite internet service would provide connectivity to aid organizations in Gaza, an offer condemned by Israel. On X, Israel’s communications minister said his office will “cut all ties” with the billionaire’s company.

According to professor at the Royal Military College of Saint-Jean Marc Imbeault, hindering the communications of one’s rival constitutes a classic military strategy.

Generally speaking, depriving the Gazan population of the Internet and cellular network is also a way of increasing pressure on Hamas. “It’s like a vice that is tightening,” notes Marc Imbeault.

Calls for de-escalation

Calls for a ceasefire increased on Saturday following the cut of communications in the Gaza Strip and the expansion of the Israeli ground operation.

” From [vendredi]”, the bombings of Israeli forces have intensified to a degree never reached before,” lamented Doctors Without Borders.

The humanitarian organization urged political leaders to put a stop to “the indiscriminate violence unleashed on a defenseless people.”

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, said she was “shocked by the intolerable level of human suffering”, calling for “immediate de-escalation”.

For their part, the United Arab Emirates called for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday “as soon as possible”.

Tensions with Turkey

Furthermore, Israel recalled its diplomats posted in Turkey on Saturday, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the bombing of the Gaza Strip by the Jewish state as a “massacre” during a pro-Palestinian rally.

“We will declare to the whole world that Israel is a war criminal,” Erdoğan said, adding that Hamas was not a “terrorist organization,” although it is designated as such by the United States. and Canada.

“Given the serious statements coming from Turkey, I have requested the recall of diplomatic staff stationed in Turkey in order to reassess our bilateral relations,” the Israeli foreign minister said in response to these comments.

Exchange of fire in Lebanon

Tensions on Israel’s northern border continue to raise fears of a regional conflagration.

The IDF said Saturday it launched a retaliatory strike after foiling a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon that targeted an unmanned aircraft.

Hours later, the Israeli military said one of its drones had hit a “terrorist cell” in Lebanon that had attempted to fire an anti-tank missile at Israel.

For its part, Hezbollah said it had carried out several attacks using artillery shells and guided missiles, without giving further details.

With The Guardianthe BBC, Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press