what to remember from Thursday February 8

The Israeli army has intensified its strikes in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, where more than a million Palestinians are refugees.

The continuation of the war in Gaza worries even Israel’s major supporters. Thursday February 8, the United States warned of the risk of a “disaster” in Rafah, this town in the south of the Gaza Strip shelled by the Israeli army. The intensification of strikes has raised fears of the worst in this urban area where more than a million Palestinians who have fled the fighting are crowded together. Franceinfo takes stock of the latest developments on the war front in the Palestinian enclave.

A new series of strikes on Rafah

According to AFP journalists, the Israeli army carried out no fewer than seven airstrikes in Rafah, heightening fears about the fate of more than a million Palestinians trapped in this town in the south of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas Ministry of Health counts a total of 130 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Negotiations for a second truce continue

Talks under the auspices of Qatar and Egypt continue in Cairo, where Hamas confirmed the arrival of a delegation on Thursday, led by a senior official from its political office. On Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected any concession to the Palestinian Islamist movement, before talking about a settled war “in a few months”. The latter responded to a proposal for an agreement which was sent to him, a response which contains elements “unacceptable” but which opens the way to a compromise, said the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken.

Rocket fire targets northern Israel

Rockets were fired into the north of the country on Thursday. All fell in sparsely populated areas, and no injuries were reported. The towns of Biranit and Kiryat Shmona were hit, according to the Israeli press, which mentions an air response from the IDF. In the evening, the army reported a barrage on the Ein Zeitim and Dalton sectors, carried out from southern Lebanon.

The UN describes some destruction in Gaza as a “war crime”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Thursday that the destruction by the Israeli army of buildings in the border area with Israel in Gaza, with the aim of constituting a “buffer”constituted a “war crime”. These operations “do not meet the criteria (…) of international humanitarian law”Volker Türk said in a statement.

The United States wants to avoid any action that “exacerbates tensions”

The American Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, concluded his tour of the Middle East on Thursday with a meeting with the leader of the Israeli opposition, Yaïr Lapid. On Wednesday, he said he had warned Benjamin Netanyahu against any action that “exacerbates tensions”and called on Israel to take into account “First and foremost” civilians in the event of an operation in the south of the Gaza Strip. “Far too many lives have been lost. Hostages are still separated from their loved ones. Civilians continue to suffer the consequences of this conflict,” declared the head of American diplomacy on.