Conflict between Hamas and Israel | Flee under the bombs

The echo of the bombings continued to resonate in the Gaza Strip on Friday, as thousands of Gazans tried to flee south after Israel ordered them to evacuate the north of the enclave. Around the world, calls for respect for humanitarian law have become more pressing. And tension is also rising in the north, on the border with Lebanon.

This sixth night since the bloody attack by Hamas in Israel – the worst since its founding in 1948 – took place in anticipation of a ground offensive by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip.

Residents of the Palestinian enclave learned early Friday morning that they had 24 hours to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip to the south. An impossible mission with “devastating” consequences, warned the spokesperson for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric.

Civilians will have to “go to the area south of Wadi Gaza”, a stream south of Gaza City, the Israeli army said. The 24-hour deadline was later revised, with Israel admitting that the evacuation “will take time”.

All day Friday, images of families and children fleeing amid the rubble of ruined buildings, by car, cart or on foot, backpacks and mattresses in hand, flashed across the media.

Tens of thousands of people took the road south, the United Nations announced in the evening. This exodus begins when the conflict in the Gaza Strip had already displaced 400,000 people.

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this. It has never been this serious,” he told The Press Mustafa Tamaizeh, an Oxfam worker who was in Ramallah, West Bank, at the time of the interview on Friday.

The death toll stands at 1,900 on the Palestinian side and 1,300 on the Israeli side. On both sides: civilians, women, elders, children.

“This is only the beginning” of Israeli operations in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Friday.

Twenty-four hours later, the sun rose over Gaza, still under bombs. Still waiting for what comes next.

Human shields?

Added to these lost lives are the approximately 150 Hamas hostages, several of whom have dual nationality. Hamas, which urged Gazans to hold their position, announced Friday that 13 hostages, “including foreigners,” had been killed in Israeli strikes.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, visiting Jerusalem on Friday, said Hamas was using the population as a “shield”.

But the displacement of such a number of civilians, 1.1 million people – double the population of Quebec – will have serious repercussions and risks leading to a humanitarian catastrophe, several organizations have warned. Arab countries united on Friday to denounce Israel’s ultimatum.

The Gaza Strip, a narrow strip of land smaller than the island of Montreal, is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Controlled by Hamas, an organization declared terrorist by Canada, the United States and the European Union, in particular, it has been the subject of a blockade for more than 15 years. The population cannot leave the territory.

The enclave has turned into a trap since a siege was launched by Israel on Monday, preventing the passage of water, food, fuel and medicine, in violation of humanitarian law, according to the United Nations. Since then, bombs have leveled entire buildings and hospitals and morgues can no longer meet demand. “People have nowhere to run, nowhere to take shelter. Every minute, human lives are lost,” insisted Mr. Tamaizeh on the phone.

On Friday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the conflict had reached a new level, pleading to allow the delivery of essential goods. “Even wars have rules,” he said. “Civilians must be protected, and never used as human shields. »

“The situation is catastrophic”

American President Joe Biden, while maintaining his support for Israel, also assured that the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza was “a priority”. “We must not forget the fact that the majority of Palestinians have nothing to do with Hamas,” he said.

“The situation there is catastrophic, and I think that if the international community does not intervene now, Gaza will disappear,” Mustafa Tamaizeh also insisted. Many of his colleagues in Gaza have been displaced or lost their homes, he added, saying work there is now impossible.

According to the official Emirati news agency WAM, the UAE on Friday sent a plane carrying emergency medical aid to El-Arich in Egypt, which is to be transported to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing . It is through this same passage that Canadians caught in Gaza could be evacuated on Saturday, according to Global Affairs Canada.

Tension is also high on the northern border of the country. The Israeli army claimed on the night of Friday to Saturday to have struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to “the infiltration of unidentified aerial objects” and “fire on an army drone air “.

Hezbollah is a pro-Iranian movement allied with Hamas. He said on Friday he was “fully prepared” to intervene against Israel “at the right moment”.

In southern Lebanon, a Reuters video journalist was killed and six other journalists from AFP, Reuters and Al-Jazeera were injured in bombings on Friday.

In the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967, at least 16 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces during rallies in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Thousands of people also demonstrated Friday in Beirut, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Bahrain, Europe and North America in support of the Palestinians. Police services in many countries have increased their presence among Jewish communities to protect them.

With Agence France-Presse