Israeli forces carried out new deadly raids in the Gaza Strip devastated by six months of war, Hamas said on Friday, amid fears of Iran’s response to a strike attributed to Israel against the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
While the mediators – Qatar, Egypt, United States – await responses from Israel and Hamas to their latest truce proposal, the Israeli offensive triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil knows no respite in the Palestinian territory under siege and threatened with famine, according to the UN.
According to the Hamas press office, Israeli forces blew up dozens of houses and residential buildings overnight with explosives in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip where the Palestinian movement took power in 2007.
They also carried out dozens of airstrikes on the areas of Nousseirat, Al-Zahra, Al-Moughraqa and Al-Maghazi, also in the center of the small strip of land, he added. .
Twenty-five people were killed after a raid on the Al-Tabatibi family house, in the al-Daraj neighborhood, and transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to the same source .
“Aerial and artillery bombardments hit Nousseirat throughout the night. It was all fire and destruction, with martyrs lying in the streets. We fled in the morning and have nowhere to go. This is the sixth time we have been displaced. The occupation [d’Israël] destroyed all of Gaza. Gaza has become unlivable,” Mohammad Al-Rayes, 61, told AFP.
The risks of the conflict spilling over have increased with Iran’s threats against Israel, accused of a strike which destroyed its consulate in Damascus on April 1, killing 16 people, according to an NGO, including seven members of the Revolutionary Guards. , Iran’s ideological army.
After US President Joe Biden’s announcement on Wednesday that Iran “is threatening to launch a significant attack against Israel”, a US general in charge of the Middle East, Michael Erik Kurilla, is in Israel, and the United States The United States has restricted the movement of its diplomatic personnel in this country.
Threat escalation
“The level of preparation for an Iranian attack against the State of Israel” was discussed Thursday by American Defense Ministers Lloyd Austin and Israeli Yoav Gallant, according to an official Israeli statement. “Israel will not tolerate an Iranian attack on its territory,” Gallant said.
“If Iran carries out an attack from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran,” warned the head of Israeli diplomacy, Israel Katz.
The United States reiterated its “unwavering support for the defense of Israel,” despite tensions between Mr. Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the conduct of the war against Hamas.
Sworn enemy of Israel and ally of Hamas, Iran threatened to “punish” Israel after the destruction of its consulate. “The evil regime made a mistake […] he must be punished and he will be punished,” Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reiterated on Wednesday.
The White House “warned” Iran, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked his Chinese, Turkish and Saudi counterparts to dissuade Tehran from any attack on Israel.
After telephone conversations with his German, Australian and British counterparts, the head of Iranian diplomacy Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke of the “necessity” for Tehran to respond to the strike against its consulate.
Moscow and Berlin called for restraint and German airline Lufthansa suspended flights to and from Tehran until Saturday.
“Occupy Rafah”
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from the neighboring Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, resulting in the death of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a report established by AFP from official Israeli data.
More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain detained in Gaza, including 34 who have died, according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. Its army launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza which has left 33,634 dead since October 7, mostly civilians, according to the report Friday from the Hamas Ministry of Health.
On Thursday evening, hundreds of Israelis demonstrated near Mr. Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem to call on the government to continue the war.
“We must occupy Rafah as quickly as possible, to emerge victorious from the war,” said one of them, Dimitri, a 42-year-old professor, in reference to the Israeli ground offensive, desired by Mr. Netanyahu, against this town in the south of the Gaza Strip, where 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together.
“Stopping the fighting now would be a gift to our enemies,” said another, Itzik Buntzel, the father of a soldier killed in Gaza.
Negotiations for a truce of several weeks associated in particular with the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are stalling, the protagonists remaining inflexible and accusing each other of blocking them.
On Thursday, Hamas official Bassem Naïm warned that locating the hostages in Gaza would require “time and security,” two conditions that a truce is likely to facilitate.