“Fierce fighting” on the ground with Hamas is taking place in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said on Tuesday, which is slowly advancing amid the ruins of the Palestinian territory, where the “disastrous” humanitarian situation according to the UN continues. to get worse.
What there is to know
- Israeli military claims to have intercepted missile fired from Red Sea region;
- Fighting takes place between Israeli soldiers and Hamas members in the northern Gaza Strip;
- Israeli planes attacked targets in southern Lebanon and destroyed Hezbollah infrastructure;
- Hamas says 8,525 people killed in Gaza;
- Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have launched drones towards Israel;
- Israeli army demolishes empty house of Palestinian Hamas number two;
- Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan hung a yellow star on his chest;
- The Palestinian Red Crescent was alarmed by strikes near a hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Triggered by the unprecedented bloody attack perpetrated on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement in Israel, the war has already left thousands dead and threatens to set the region ablaze.
At 25e Today, calls for a “humanitarian truce”, in order to relieve the suffering of the 2.4 million inhabitants of Gaza, remain unanswered, despite cries of alarm from NGOs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out any ceasefire on Monday evening.
After focusing the first phase of its response on massive bombings against the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas, Israel has gradually deployed ground troops since Friday, while further intensifying its strikes.
Tuesday, “fierce fights […] deep in the Gaza Strip” pit Israeli soldiers against Hamas, the Israeli army said in a statement. She added that dozens of Palestinian fighters had been killed in the past few hours.
For its part, the military wing of Hamas claimed to have targeted “two armored vehicles” with anti-tank shells, adding that its fighters had “annihilated” an Israeli force by ambushing it in a building in the north of the territory.
PHOTO MAHMUD HAMS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The town of Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023
Images previously released by the Israeli army showed soldiers and tanks advancing through a mixture of sand and dust, then through abandoned buildings and rubble.
Other images, from Hamas, are presented as showing fighters emerging from tunnels with weapons in hand, and taking cover, in a non-residential area. Then an explosion occurs in the distance, accompanied by a deafening noise.
” Methodically ”
On Tuesday morning, army spokesperson Jonathan Conricus confirmed that Israeli forces were “in different parts of the northern Gaza Strip.” “We brought in heavily armored vehicles, tanks, armored combat vehicles, bulldozers,” he added, reporting some “300 targets” struck in 24 hours.
The army “extended its land action”, “methodically”, Mr. Netanyahu said Monday evening.
A few hours earlier, Israeli tanks had advanced for the first time to the outskirts of Gaza City, some 2 km inside Palestinian territory.
If this progression gives rise to intense fighting on the ground, it is impossible to provide human tolls from an independent source.
PHOTO MOHAMMED ABED, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli army had already reported “several armed confrontations with terrorist cells, which fired automatic weapons and launched anti-tank missiles”.
The day before, she had also mentioned the death of “dozens” of Palestinian fighters and claimed to have struck “600 targets” in 24 hours, weapons depots, anti-tank missile launch positions and even Hamas caches, which Israel, the United States and the EU consider it a “terrorist” organization.
“Even if it’s only three hours”
In Israel, according to the authorities, more than 1,400 people have died since October 7, mainly civilians killed on the day of the Hamas attack. More than 230 hostages, whose relatives are living in anguish, are still in the hands of Hamas, according to the same source.
The Palestinian Islamist movement claims, in a latest report published Tuesday, that 8,525 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israeli bombings.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, subject to massive bombings and, since October 9, a “complete siege” by Israel, is alarming. This deprives the 2.4 million inhabitants of water, food and electricity deliveries, more than half of whom have been displaced according to the UN.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the number of Gazans suffering from “severe or moderate psychological disorders” at “more than 485,000”.
In Rafah (south), tons of aid continue to pile up on the Egyptian side of the border crossing, awaiting inspection by Israel, according to an American official who requested anonymity.
Some 117 trucks have been able to enter so far, but this “handful of convoys […] is nothing compared to the needs,” denounced the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini.
PHOTO SAID KHATIB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023
The mass delivery of aid “is a question of life and death for millions of people”, proclaimed this official.
No new aid had crossed the border as of Tuesday morning, according to a local official. “36 trucks have been waiting to cross since yesterday,” the director of the Rafah crossing point, Hicham Adwan, told AFP. “It’s extremely slow. »
In this town of Rafah, according to images from AFPTV, funerals took place during the day for victims of a bombing. We see bodies in shrouds being buried in tombs hastily made with breeze blocks and concrete blocks.
Further north, in Gaza City, near a Greek Orthodox cultural center hit in the night, Ahmed al-Kahlout, 50, implores. “The minimum they could give us is a truce, just give us three hours,” he told AFP.
In Jerusalem, the Orthodox Patriarchate denounced the bombing of its cultural center in Gaza, deploring Israel’s “unjustified determination to destroy civilian infrastructure.”
Hospitals at risk
The situation in hospitals also worries NGOs, as thousands of civilians have taken refuge there.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported new strikes near al-Quds hospital on Tuesday. “The building is shaking and the displaced civilians and the crews at work are gripped by fear,” he wrote on X.
Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals to hide weapons or fighters. Hamas denies this.
PHOTO MOHAMMED ABED, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023
In Gaza, doctors “operate on the ground,” Doctors of the World (MDM) denounced on Monday. Due to a lack of drinking water, “people are drinking sea water, those on my team have diarrhea, their children will be dehydrated in a few days,” added its vice-president, Jean-François Corty. .
This war has also exacerbated tensions in the occupied West Bank, where at least 122 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 by fire from Israeli soldiers and settlers, according to the local Health Ministry.
Update on the situation on 25e war day
The war between Israel and Hamas, entering its 25e day Tuesday, was triggered by the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip which it controls.
In retaliation, the Israeli army relentlessly bombs this besieged territory, where 2.4 million Palestinians are crowded together. For several days, it has also been carrying out land operations there.
Here are the latest developments:
Ground fighting
Fighting takes place between Israeli soldiers and members of Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip, on the fourth day of ground operations by the Israeli army in this sector, after the rejection by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of any cease-fire. fire.
Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus confirmed Tuesday morning that “Israeli troops are in different parts of the northern Gaza Strip.”
Warning sirens in Israel
Sirens warning of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip sounded in southern Israel, bordering Palestinian territory, the army said without reporting any casualties.
A school and cultural center affected
In Gaza City, Israeli airstrikes overnight hit a complex housing a school and cultural center, run by the Greek Orthodox Church, according to testimonies.
“Dehumanized population”
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which has become a question of life and death for millions of people”.
“Gaza residents feel they are not treated like other civilians […] An entire population is dehumanized,” according to him.
Balance sheets
A new Hamas report shows 8,306 dead, including 3,457 children, and more than 21,000 wounded since the start of the war.
In Israel, 1,400 people were killed, mainly civilians, during the October 7 attack, according to the authorities.
Hostages
On October 7, Hamas fighters kidnapped and took 240 people to Gaza, according to the army. One of them, a soldier, was released during a ground operation, according to Israeli authorities who also confirmed the death of a German-Israeli woman. Four women have so far been released.
Missing
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,870 people, including 1,020 children, are missing and may be trapped under rubble in the Gaza Strip.
Thirteen hospitals in Gaza City and the northern Palestinian territory are currently operating and facing evacuation orders from the Israeli army, she added. “These measures are impossible to achieve. »
House of Hamas number 2 demolished
The Israeli army demolished with explosives Tuesday at dawn in the occupied West Bank the empty house of the number two of Palestinian Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, in exile for several years, according to witnesses.
Palestinian deaths in the West Bank
Two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, a 70-year-old man and a 14-year-old teenager, by Israeli fire in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
At least 122 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by fire from Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the ministry.
Israeli fire in Lebanon
Israeli warplanes attacked targets in southern Lebanon overnight and “destroyed Hezbollah infrastructure,” according to the Israeli army.
Houthi drones
The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had detected a “hostile flying device” off the Red Sea city of Eilat. Questioned by AFP, the Prime Minister of the Houthi government, Abdelaziz ben Habtour, affirmed that “these drones belong to Yemen”.
And the threats of regional conflagration remain. On Tuesday, Israel announced that it had intercepted a missile fired from the Red Sea region. Earlier, Houthi rebels in Yemen, a neighboring country, claimed to have launched drones towards the Jewish state.
On the Israeli-Lebanese border, where clashes are almost daily, the Israeli army claimed to have carried out new air strikes targeting Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and Iran.