The Israeli army bombs Khan Younes on Monday, the epicenter of clashes in southern Gaza, while families of hostages in Israel urge the Netanyahu government to accept an agreement with Hamas to facilitate their release.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, witnesses reported deadly Israeli strikes towards Khan Younes, and even fierce fighting between soldiers and Hamas fighters.
Outside Gaza, in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, anti-rocket sirens sounded overnight, according to the Israeli army.
Several localities in southern Lebanon were the target of Israeli strikes on Sunday which killed a Lebanese Hezbollah fighter, a source close to this movement which supports Hamas in its war against Israel told AFP.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
View of Khan Younes, from Rafah, January 21
In power in Gaza since 2007, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on October 7 on Israeli soil, killing more than 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Some 250 people were also kidnapped and taken to Gaza, including around 100 released at the end of November as part of an exchange for Palestinian prisoners. According to Israel, 132 hostages are still held in the territory, of whom 28 are believed to have died.
Hamas “mistakes”
Delivering for the first time its “version of the facts” on October 7, Hamas acknowledged that “perhaps mistakes took place” in the “chaos” caused by “the sudden collapse of the security apparatus and military” on the border between Israel and Gaza.
However, he denied having targeted civilians, except “by accident, and during confrontations with the occupying forces”. However, videos released show armed men killing indiscriminately on Israeli soil.
After this attack, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas and launched its largest operation ever carried out in Gaza. So far, 25,105 people – the vast majority women, children and teenagers – have been killed in this operation according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
However, in the fourth month of this war, Israel has killed “around 20% to 30%” of Hamas fighters, and is still far from its objective of destroying the Islamist movement, estimates American intelligence, according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to this daily, the United States, Qatar and Egypt, countries which played the role of mediator during the truce in November, are trying to convince Israel and Hamas to approve a plan which would, among other things, free all the hostages in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
“Contract with the country”
During the night, relatives of the hostages and supporters gathered near the official residence of Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, to demand an agreement for their release.
PHOTO RONEN ZVULUN, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Benjamin Netanyahu
“We hear of a [proposition] from the United States, Qatar and Egypt. We ask our government to listen, to sit at the negotiating table and decide to accept this agreement or any other agreement that would suit Israel,” said Gilad Korenbloom, whose son is hostage in Gaza. .
“As citizens, we all have a contract with the country. We serve the country, we pay our taxes, we send our children to serve the country. In exchange for this service and these taxes, we expect the government to ensure our security,” added John Polin, also the father of a hostage.
“On the morning of October 7, this government and this Prime Minister completely abandoned us […] We call on the government to play its role, come up with a deal, see it through and bring the remaining hostages back alive,” he added.
The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, meets families of Hamas hostages on Monday, before meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
“Sole survivor”
At 108e day, Monday, of the war, the humanitarian and health situation remains critical according to the UN in Gaza where at least 1.7 million people (more than 80% of the population) have fled their homes to try to protect themselves from the fighting .
Abdelrahmane Iyad, injured in Gaza and now being treated aboard the French helicopter carrier Dixmude, docked in Egypt, did not have time to leave his house when it was hit.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Displaced Palestinians rummage through a trash can at a makeshift camp in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, on January 21.
“When they bombed the house, I was thrown into the air and hit the wall of our neighbors’ house. My leg was trapped under the broken ceiling, and a rock hit the front and back of my head. I lost consciousness,” he whispers.
“I was with my parents, my brother, my sister, my second sister and her husband as well as their daughter. They are all dead. I am the only survivor. »