Israelis and Palestinians put an end to a dark year on Sunday, December 31, with no prospect of the end of the fighting and their world afterward. In these last hours of the year 2023, air raids, artillery fire and ground fighting show no respite in the Gaza Strip, to the great dismay of the Palestinian population. “exhausted”. This devastating war was triggered by an unprecedented attack on October 7 by Hamas on Israeli soil, which left around 1,140 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Follow our live stream.
New strikes. During the night, the Hamas Ministry of Health reported numerous deaths in strikes in Al-Mughazi and Al-Zawayda (center) which will be added to the 21,672 people, mostly women and minors. , already killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the results of the Palestinian Hamas Ministry of Health.
A chaotic health situation. The World Health Organization warns of the growing threat of the spread of infectious diseases and the UN says it fears famine.
Israeli firmness. The war “will continue for many months, until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages freed”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. “We guarantee that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel”he added during a press conference in Tel Aviv.
A slim hope of a truce. International mediators, led by Qatar and Egypt, managed to negotiate a one-week truce at the end of November which allowed the release of more than 100 hostages and the entry of limited aid into Gaza. And they are currently continuing their efforts towards a new pause in the fighting.