Israel bombed several areas of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, such as the town of Rafah where the army is preparing for a ground operation in its war against Palestinian Hamas, despite warnings from the international community.
Many foreign capitals and humanitarian organizations fear, in the event of an offensive, a bloodbath in this city in the south of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, refuge for a million and a half Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers Rafah to be the last major bastion of Hamas and believes that an offensive on this city is necessary to defeat the Islamist movement and free the hostages held in Gaza, the two main goals of the war declared on October 7 in the Palestinian territory.
On Thursday, the leaders of 18 countries, including Canada, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Brazil, called on Hamas, in a joint text, for “the immediate release of all hostages” held at Gaza.
“The agreement on the table to release the hostages would allow an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza,” states the text released by the White House, while negotiations carried out through Qatar, the United States United and Egypt are at a standstill.
“It’s gone too far”
The Israeli army announced Thursday that its planes had struck “30 Hamas targets” across the territory the day before and killed several fighters from the Islamist movement. The Hamas Ministry of Health counted 43 deaths in 24 hours.
Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters took place north of the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to witnesses.
AFP correspondents and witnesses also reported artillery fire and airstrikes on the Zeitoun neighborhood, in the south of Gaza City.
Airstrikes also hit Rafah, where survivors were trying to salvage items from the rubble on Thursday.
“Enough destruction, enough war. Enough bloodshed of children, women, the elderly and unarmed civilians […] it went too far. […] Let people live,” said one of them, Samir Daban, amid the rubble.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer announced Thursday that the war cabinet had met “to discuss ways to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions.” The Islamist movement, according to the government, maintains four battalions in Rafah.
“A hostage deal now”
According to Egyptian officials, cited by the Wall Street Journal, Israel is preparing to move civilians from Rafah to the nearby town of Khan Younes, in particular, where it plans to set up shelters and food distribution centers.
This evacuation would last two to three weeks and would be carried out in particular in coordination with the United States, Egypt and other Arab countries, according to these officials.
The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out from Gaza against Israel by Hamas commandos, which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official data. Israelis.
More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain captive in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada and the European Union in particular.
Its vast military operation in the Gaza Strip has so far left 34,305 dead, mostly civilians, according to Hamas.
On Thursday, relatives of hostages once again demonstrated in Tel Aviv in front of the Ministry of Defense to pressure the government to obtain their release.
Some had their hands tied and stained red, their mouths covered with a plaster marked with the number “202”, the number of days since October 7, or carried a sign with the words “A hostage agreement now”.
Hamas broadcast a video on its Telegram channel on Wednesday of a hostage kidnapped in southern Israel during the Nova music festival. Probably speaking under duress, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli-American, accuses Mr. Netanyahu and members of his government of having “abandoned” the hostages.
Up to 100,000 Palestinians arrive in Egypt
While the 2.4 million inhabitants of Gaza face a dramatic humanitarian situation, American, German, British, Jordanian and Egyptian planes once again parachuted aid over the north of the territory on Thursday.
Several countries are carrying out these operations in the face of the difficulties encountered in the land transport of international aid, which arrives in dribs and drabs mainly from Egypt via Rafah, after having been strictly controlled by the Israeli authorities.
Israel retains in practice a right of oversight over the entry and exit of goods and people.
Also, since the start of the war, 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinians have arrived in Egypt, said the Palestinian ambassador in Cairo, Diab Allouh, on Thursday.
“Just 50 kilometers from the Gaza Strip, vital aid and equipment, including water desalination equipment, first aid kits, oxygen tanks and mobile toilets […] remain overdue in warehouses, banned from entering Gaza under the pretext that they could be used by fighters,” Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, said on Thursday.