Violent fighting between Israel and Hamas continues in the Gaza Strip, a territory plunged into a health and humanitarian disaster.
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Violent fighting between Israel and Hamas continues in the Gaza Strip. While new talks for a truce are beginning in Cairo in Egypt, the Israeli authorities announced, Wednesday February 21, the entry the day before of 98 trucks with humanitarian aid into Gaza, while a collective of international NGOs (Aida) deplored the slowness of the inspection process and the blocking of dozens of trucks for several days at the border. The Palestinian Red Crescent called on Wednesday “UN agencies to step up their aid, particularly for areas in the north of the Gaza Strip where 400,000 people are threatened with famine.”
According to the UN, 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the population, are threatened with famine in the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel since the start of the war on October 7. Here’s what to remember from this day.
MSF accuses Israel of deadly shooting at one of the NGO’s residences
Late Tuesday, an Israeli tank fired on a house housing Doctors Without Borders employees and members of their families in Al-Mawasi, the NGO reported in a statement. “This attack killed the daughter-in-law and the wife of one of our colleagues, and injured six people, including five women and children. The building, clearly identified with the MSF logo” has been “targeted by shots”she said, adding that 64 people were there at the time. “We are shocked and deeply saddened by this deadly attack,” said Meinie Nicolai, MSF general director, currently traveling in the Gaza Strip.
Questioned by AFP about this affair, the Israeli army declared having fired, “during operations in Khan Younes”, on a building “identified” as sheltering “terrorist activities”but only after the fact “There were reports of the deaths of two uninvolved civilians” in these alleged activities. “The Israeli army regrets any harm caused to civilians and is doing everything in its power to operate precisely on the battlefield“, added the soldiers.
Israeli parliament votes against unilateral recognition of Palestinian state
The Israeli parliament overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday for a resolution proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against any “unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state”, which would, according to the text, amount to rewarding the “unprecedented terrorism” of Hamas. “This historic vote underlines our collective determination”welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu on X, adding: “We will not reward terrorism with unilateral recognition in response to the October 7 massacre, nor do we accept imposed solutions.”
WHO speaks of “inhumane” situation in Gaza Strip
The director general of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the situation “health and humanitarian” in the Gaza Strip is “inhumane”, after more than four months of war, triggered by the Hamas attack. “What world do we live in when people can’t get food and water, or when people who can’t even walk can’t receive care?” declared Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference in Geneva. “What world do we live in when health workers risk being bombarded while doing their work? What world do we live in when hospitals have to close because there is no more electricity or medicine to save the patients, and they are the target of the military?” he continued.
More generally, “Gaza has become a death zone,” assured the head of the WHO, using an expression he has already used. “Much of the territory has been destroyed, more than 29,000 people are dead, many more are missing, presumed dead, and many, many more are injured,” he added.
New accusations against UNWRA
The mother of a young Israeli killed in the Hamas attack on October 7 accused on Wednesday an employee of the UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, of having taken his remains to the Gaza Strip. Yonatan Samerano, 21, was shot dead on Kibbutz Beeri. According to the Israeli government, a man identified in a video transporting Yonatan Samerano’s body in a white jeep to Gaza was an UNRWA social worker. “How can a social worker for an organization that claims to do good act in such a cruel and inhumane way?”said Yonatan Samerano’s mother, Ayelet, during a press conference in Tel Aviv.
These accusations come as a French association filed a complaint in France against the UN agency it accuses of crimes against humanity and complicity in the attacks of October 7.
Antony Blinken tells Lula of American “disagreement” over his comments on Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed the Brazilian President of “disagreement” of the United States on his controversial remarks comparing the war in Gaza and the Shoah. During his meeting in Brasilia with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, he “brought up the subject of Gaza and clearly expressed our disagreement with these remarks”said an official on condition of anonymity to journalists accompanying the head of American diplomacy.
At the same time, Colombian President Gustavo Petro spoke in support of his Brazilian counterpart, accusing Israel in turn of “genocide”. He also expressed his “full solidarity” with Lula, plunged into a diplomatic crisis with Israel. His Bolivian counterpart Luis Arce, for his part, congratulated the Brazilian leader “for telling the truth about the genocide committed against the valiant Palestinian people”.
A majority of Israelis do not believe in “total victory” in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeated in recent days that he is aiming for a victory “total”, Or “absolute”, against Hamas. But according to a barometer from the Israel Democratic Institute (IDI), an analysis center in Jerusalem, barely 38.3% of Israelis judge “very” Or “moderately” This victory is likely and 55.3% believe it “unlikely or very unlikely”. Some 6.4% of respondents did not comment.
On the sidelines of truce talks, which are being held under the auspices of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, regional and Western countries are discussing a broader plan for the post-war in Gaza which would notably include the creation of an independent Palestinian state and the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. However, the majority of the 612 people surveyed by the IDI (55.4%) are opposed to Israel accepting the creation of a Palestinian state. “independent and demilitarized”around 37% estimating “that there will be even more terrorism” in the event of the creation of such a State, according to the survey carried out between February 12 and 15.