Israel and Hamas at war, day 100 | The humanitarian situation worsens in Gaza

Israel continues its bombings in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, where the war against the Palestinian movement Hamas entered its 100^e day, has plunged the population of this territory into a major humanitarian crisis and raised fears of a regional conflagration.

“No one will stop us, neither The Hague, nor the “Axis of Evil”, nor anyone else,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Saturday evening, while his country rejects accusations of genocide before the International Court of Justice. justice (ICJ), based in The Hague and seized by South Africa.

Israel is also facing attacks on its northern border from the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, which is part of the “axis of resistance” set up by Iran and comprising armed groups hostile to Israel and its ally. , United States.

The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip, leaving around 1,140 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on the Israeli toll.

Some 250 people were taken hostage during this attack, according to Israeli authorities. About 100 were released under a truce at the end of November, and relatives of those still captive are maintaining pressure for their release.

In retaliation for the attack, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, classified as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

The incessant bombardments and exchanges of fire on the narrow strip of land have killed at least 23,843 people, mainly women, adolescents and children, according to the latest report from the local Ministry of Health.

“Death” and “destruction”

Thick clouds of smoke rose on Sunday morning above the towns of Rafah and Khan Younès, in the South, according to an AFP correspondent.

According to the Hamas government media office, more than 100 people were killed in nighttime Israeli bombardments across the territory, including in Khan Younes.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed to have destroyed an Israeli tank, citing fighting in particular in Al-Maghazi, Deir Al-Balah (center) and Khan Younes.

The Israeli army has said in recent days that it is focusing its operations against Hamas on this last town in the south of the territory where hundreds of thousands of civilians are massed after fleeing massive bombings in the north of the territory at the start of the war.

She reported the death of a soldier on Sunday, bringing to 188 the number of soldiers killed since the start of ground operations in Gaza on October 27.

The Israeli blockade, reinforced with the war, is causing serious shortages of food and fuel throughout the Gaza Strip.

“The massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss and grief of the last 100 days taint our common humanity,” said the head of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). ), Philippe Lazzarini, visiting the besieged coastal territory.

According to him, an entire generation of children in Gaza is “traumatized”, diseases are spreading and “starvation” threatens.

Regional tensions

The rain and cold complicate the daily survival of families, who camp in the courtyard of the al-Nasser medical complex in Khan Younes.

The UN estimates that 1.9 million people, or nearly 85% of the population, have had to leave their homes.

Many are seeking refuge in the south of the territory, while the local Ministry of Health repeats that there is no infrastructure to accommodate them.

Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), less than half of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip are functioning, and only partially.

Outside Gaza, fears of a regional conflagration are growing after new strikes against the Houthis, Yemeni rebels supported by Iran who are increasing attacks in the Red Sea against ships allegedly linked to Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians .

The United States said its forces had reached a “radar site in Yemen” after rebel sites were hit by American and British strikes.

The Israeli army also said on Sunday that it had killed “four terrorists” who had infiltrated into Israel from southern Lebanon.

Exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been almost daily since October 7. The leader of the Shiite party is due to speak early this afternoon.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence has been on the rise since October 7, the Israeli army reported the arrest, for “incitement to terrorism”, of two sisters of Hamas number two Saleh al-Arouri, killed on October 2 January in Lebanon in a drone attack attributed to the Israeli army.

In Israel, families and relatives of hostages continue their mobilization to obtain the return of their loved ones, trying to put pressure on the government.

Mobilization “place of hostages”

Hundreds of thousands of people observed a 100-minute strike in the morning to mark 100 days of detention of the hostages, announced the major trade union center Histadrout.

“We are here to remind the world that 136 brutally abducted men and women remain in captivity […] in Gaza, in tunnels and cellars,” its leader Arnon Bar-David said at a rally in Tel Aviv.

Dozens of people gathered in a square renamed “hostage square”, some carrying yellow balloons, the color that has become the symbol of the captives, others carrying signs with their photos.

Concerts that began on Saturday evening continued on Sunday.

Bashir al-Zayadna, 27, whose uncle and cousin, Youssef and Hamza al-Zayadna, 53 and 22, are hostages, says he only hopes for one thing: to be able to hug his loved ones and “tell them that it’s all over.”