Israel and Hamas at war | A first humanitarian corridor announced

At a time when an Israeli ground offensive seems imminent, some 500,000 Palestinians have already fled to the south of the country. The world holds its breath.

The establishment of a first humanitarian air corridor, announced by the European Union, will make it possible to transport medicines and essential products.

At the end of the week, the World Health Organization warned that “a real humanitarian catastrophe” was looming within the next 24 hours if such a corridor was not put in place immediately.

A sign of Israel’s vulnerability, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken (in Israel for the second time in a week) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to head during a meeting on Monday towards a bunker when the sirens sounded rocket warnings sounded.

The journalists, who were led up a flight of stairs, heard the sound of Israel’s anti-missile system (the “Iron Dome”) intercepting a rocket, Agence France-Presse reported.

Iran warned Monday of possible “preventive action” against Israel “in the coming hours” if the latter undertakes a ground offensive.

Israel remains in its positions. “I tell you, it will be a long war, the price will be very high, but we will win it, for Israel, for the Jewish people and for the values ​​in which our two peoples believe,” declared the Israeli Minister of Justice. Defense, Yoav Gallant, to Mr. Blinken during their talks in Tel Aviv.

The secretary of state responded that his country “deeply supports the right, indeed the obligation, of Israel to defend itself.” “You have and always will have the support of the United States. »

American President Joe Biden is also expected in Israel on Wednesday. He will then travel to Amman, Jordan, where he will meet King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, a White House spokesperson said Monday.

Increase in firearms license applications

The Israeli police have announced that since the massacres they have purchased more than 6,000 rifles which they will give to 566 new civilian units that they have created to defend the cities. It was also revealed, in the wake of this announcement, that 41,000 Israelis had applied for a firearm permit since October 7 (compared to 38,000 applications annually).

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, for his part, called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to “the forced transfer” of Palestinian civilians.

Furthermore, Hamas broadcast on its official account the video of a Hebrew-speaking woman (receiving treatment on one arm) whom it identified as being one of the Palestinian hostages taken on the first day of the attacks. On Monday morning, the Israelis estimated that 199 people were still taken hostage, with the armed wing of Hamas claiming to hold between 200 and 250.

More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, have died in Israel since the deadly Hamas attack began on October 7, and nearly 500,000 Israelis are internally displaced. Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 2,750 people, including hundreds of children, according to local authorities.

Ottawa fearing that the conflict will spill over into Lebanon, M^me Joly also added that Canadians there “should consider leaving the country while commercial flights are still available” (see other text).

Many countries fear terrorist attacks. In its travel advisories, Ottawa recommends that Canadians exercise extreme caution if they travel to France, Belgium, Sweden or the United Kingdom, among other destinations.

From all sides, diplomatic meetings in person or virtual are increasing, including from Vladimir Putin, who, according to the Kremlin, would be “extremely worried about the large-scale escalation of hostilities” and the “worsening of the crisis humanitarian in the Gaza Strip.

Putin has reportedly spoken in recent days with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as his Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian counterparts and the president of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel faces criticism

As anti-Israel protests bringing together thousands of people were held at the weekend, a very public argument on social network X broke out between Colombian and Israeli authorities, with Colombia urging the Israeli ambassador “to ‘excuse and leave’.

“If we have to suspend relations with Israel, we will,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on the social network X. “We do not support genocides. »

Furious at Colombia’s position in the conflict, Israel halted sales of military equipment to that country.

In a text published in Releasein France, on the subject of the endless war between Israelis and Palestinians, Sari Nusseibeg, Palestinian philosopher and academic, wrote that “once again current events reduce us all to the status of executioners and victims, and we pass without ceases from one to the other reflecting blindness to this unresolved and shared human tragedy, born in 1948 and which seems determined to want to continue to haunt us.

With Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press