Israel announced Tuesday that it had lost 24 soldiers in Gaza the day before, its heaviest military loss in a day since the start of its ground offensive in the Palestinian territory, as pressure increases on its government for a truce in the war against Hamas.
According to Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari, 24 soldiers including 21 “reservists” died on Monday, the heaviest daily loss since October 27. The reservists were all killed by the explosion of “an RPG” (shoulder-fired rocket) which targeted a tank and a building mined by the army for its demolition, in the south of the Gaza Strip , he explained.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the opening of an investigation into what he called a “disaster”.
The symbolic bar of 200 Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza was crossed on Monday.
The city of Khan Younes “surrounded”
The war was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 on Israeli soil, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Some 250 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, including around 100 released at the end of November during a truce in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. According to the same count, 132 hostages are still in the territory, of whom 28 are believed to have died.
Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007, and launched a vast military operation that killed 25,490 Palestinians — the vast majority women, children and teenagers — according to the ministry of Hamas Health.
On the ground, Israeli forces announced on Tuesday that they had “surrounded” Khan Younes, the main town in the south of the territory, where according to Israel the local Hamas leaders are hiding. It is also the hometown of Yahya Sinouar, the Gaza leader of Hamas, considered the architect of the October 7 attack.
Witnesses reported Israeli artillery fire near the Nasser hospital and the Palestinian Red Crescent accused the Israeli army of targeting its headquarters in this town, and injuring people taking refuge in the compound. ‘hospital.
According to the Palestinian telecoms operator Paltel, the besieged and largely devastated territory is also facing a new Internet and telephone outage since Monday.
At least 1.7 of the 2.4 million inhabitants have had to flee their homes, many massing in the south.
Calls for a truce
At 109e day of the war, and faced with the catastrophic humanitarian and health situation in Gaza, according to the UN, calls for a new truce and preparation for the post-war period are increasing.
In Israel, “people will demand clear answers about the reasons and the purpose of this operation in Gaza,” Israela Oron, a security expert at Ben-Gurion University, told AFP.
According to the American site AxiosIsrael offered Hamas, through the mediation of Egypt and Qatar, a two-month pause in fighting and raids in Gaza in exchange for the release of all hostages and the return of the bodies of those who died.
As part of the plan, Israel and Hamas would have to agree on the number of Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for each hostage, Axios continues.
During a meeting on Monday with relatives of hostages, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of an Israeli “initiative”, but claimed not to be able to “detail” it, according to the local press.
The Israeli government, on the other hand, refuses to consider in the longer term the “two-state solution”, an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, irritating the international community.
“What other solutions are they thinking of? », asked the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell on Monday in Brussels. He was speaking after separate meetings between European foreign ministers and their Israeli counterparts Israel Katz and Palestinian Riyad al-Maliki.
Israelis “are sowing the seeds of hatred for generations to come,” he warned.
“Weaken” the Houthis
The conflict is also exacerbating tensions between Israel and Hamas’s pro-Iran allies.
Lebanese Hezbollah announced that it had fired missiles on Tuesday at the Meron military base in northern Israel, already targeted in early January in retaliation for the elimination attributed to Israel of Hamas’ number two in Lebanon.
In Yemen, the United States and the United Kingdom again bombed Houthi sites in Yemen during the night from Monday to Tuesday, to “weaken” the military arsenal of these rebels who are increasing attacks against commercial ships in Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, disrupting international traffic.
“These attacks will not go unanswered and unpunished,” responded Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree.