Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Sunday that the 1.5 million Palestinians crowded into Rafah would be evacuated before any military operation against this city in the south of the besieged Gaza Strip.
In the last 24 hours, more than 90 Palestinians, including twelve members of the same family, were killed in Israeli air raids which hit several areas of the Gaza Strip including Rafah, said the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. .
More than five months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by a bloody attack by this movement, the human toll continues to rise in the Palestinian territory threatened by famine with 31,645 dead since October 7 , according to Hamas.
While reaffirming his determination to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, Mr. Netanyahu assured that such an operation “is not something that we will do while leaving the population locked in place”, while the international community fears the prospect of such an assault.
Mr. Netanyahu rejected international pressure on Sunday. “No international pressure will prevent us from achieving all the objectives of our war […] We will act in Rafah, it will take a few weeks but it will take place,” he said, according to his services. On Friday, he approved “the action plans” for this offensive, involving an “evacuation of the population”.
The pressure comes mainly from the United States, Israel’s main allies, whose President Joe Biden is increasingly distancing himself from Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Biden had thus welcomed on Friday the “good speech” delivered the day before by the leader of the Democratic senators Chuck Schumer, who called for elections to replace Mr. Netanyahu’s government.
“We are not a banana republic,” the Israeli prime minister replied in interviews on Sunday with CNN and Fox News, calling the call from Mr. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish figure in the American legislature, “completely inappropriate.” “.
“What do they want from us? »
Most of the 1.7 million displaced by the war according to the UN have found refuge in the town of Rafah located on Egypt’s closed border and bombarded daily by the Israeli army.
Before dawn, raids were intense in Deir al-Balah in the center, Gaza City in the north and Khan Younes and Rafah in the south, according to witnesses. Fighting took place between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters in several sectors.
At least 92 Palestinians were killed, the majority civilians, the Hamas health ministry said. Among them, 12 members of the Thabet family whose home was destroyed at dawn by bombs in Deir al-Balah, according to the same source.
Leen Thabet says through tears that her cousin was killed in the strike. ” She is dead. Only her dress remains,” said the little girl, pointing to a white dress taken out of the rubble. “What do they want from us? There are no more children in Gaza. »
The Israeli army claimed to have killed “18 terrorists” in central Gaza since Saturday.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, during which at least 1,160 people were killed, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count from official sources.
According to Israel, around 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still being held in Gaza, of whom 32 are believed to have died.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union.
In retaliation, Israel launched a massive air campaign against Gaza, followed 20 days later by a ground offensive that allowed its soldiers to advance from the north to the south of this territory approximately 40 km long and 10 wide .
He launched a massive air campaign, followed 20 days later by a ground offensive that allowed his soldiers to advance from the north to the south of the Palestinian territory approximately 40 km long and 10 wide.
“Sustainable ceasefire”
Faced with the devastating war, the mediating countries – the United States, Qatar, Egypt – are trying to reach a new truce after that at the end of November which lasted a week.
The security cabinet is expected to determine on Sunday the “mandate” of the Israeli delegation which is to travel to Doha for further discussions.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Sunday for a “hostage agreement and a lasting ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, following a meeting in Jerusalem with Mr. Netanyahu.
The latter indicated, however, that he would not accept an agreement “that makes Israel weak and incapable of defending itself”.
Hamas said it was ready, in a new proposal, for a six-week truce, during which 42 hostages — women, children, the elderly and the sick — would be released in exchange for 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released.
It also calls for “the withdrawal of the army from towns and populated areas”, the “return of the displaced” and the entry of 500 aid trucks per day into Gaza, according to one of its executives.
Israel controls the entry of land aid into Gaza, which remains very insufficient given the immense needs of the 2.4 million inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are threatened with famine according to the UN.
Leaving Cyprus, a boat from the Spanish NGO Open Arms carrying 200 tonnes of food from the organization World Central Kitchen arrived in the Gaza Strip on Friday and is to be followed by a second, on a date which is not known .
In addition, several Arab and Western countries continue to airdrop food into Gaza. Despite these efforts, the UN believes that aid by land remains vital.