Deadly fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas raged on Saturday in the south of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians survived in “conditions of despair” according to the UN.
In this context, Israel promised on Saturday to put an end to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), whose funding six countries have so far suspended, after Israeli accusations according to which employees were involved in the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7.
The large town of Khan Younes, in the south of Gaza, considered by Israel as a stronghold of the Palestinian Islamist movement, is now at the heart of the war triggered by this attack, forcing its inhabitants and the displaced people who had found there to flee. refuge when the clashes were concentrated in the north.
The fighting continued there on Saturday, according to witnesses, particularly around the two main hospitals, Nasser and al-Amal, which are now operating only slowly.
PHOTO IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA, REUTERS
Palestinians fleeing Khan Younes, January 27
A 28-year-old displaced person was killed on Saturday at the entrance to the al-Amal emergency room by Israeli fire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
At the Nasser hospital, which “is running out of fuel, food and supplies”, there remain “currently 350 patients and 5,000 displaced people”, described Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization ( WHO), again calling for an “immediate ceasefire”.
Five countries, including Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Italy, suspended their contribution to UNRWA during the day, essential for humanitarian aid in Gaza, following in the footsteps of the United States.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A man looks out the window of a building damaged by Israeli bombing in Rafah on January 27.
Israel wants to “ensure” that UNRWA no longer plays any role in Gaza after the war, its head of diplomacy, Israel Katz, declared on Saturday, with Hamas denouncing “threats” against this agency.
Unrwa “needs support”, not that “we are cutting off” its food supplies, reacted the Palestinian Authority.
“No safe place”
About ten kilometers south of Khan Younes, more than 1.3 million displaced Gazans are massed in Rafah, cornered, in “conditions of despair”, against the closed border with Egypt, according to the Affairs Coordination Office UN humanitarian aid (Ocha)
The streets are filled with hundreds of thousands of tents, and the night was a nightmare due to torrential rains, according to an AFP journalist.
“What’s happening doesn’t make sense. Let them open the crossing points so we can leave! There is nothing left in Gaza: no schools, no education, no basic necessities,” laments Hind Ahmed, a mother.
“We will not leave Gaza, the Jews came here and they are the ones who should leave,” interrupts an angry passerby.
Along the roads, dozens of traders sell aid transported to the besieged territory at double the price, including canned goods, mattresses and blankets.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A displaced Palestinian woman stands at the entrance to a flooded tent during heavy rains at a makeshift camp in Rafah on January 27.
The city was not spared from bombs either. “There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip. Everything that is said is false,” testifies Mohammed Al-Chaer, a resident of the city, in his devastated neighborhood after a new strike.
Attempt at mediation
The attack by Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on figures Israeli officials.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a vast military operation which left 26,257 dead, the vast majority of women, children and adolescents, according to the latest report on Saturday. Ministry of Health of the movement.
The International Court of Justice, the highest court of the UN, seized by South Africa, called on Israel on Friday to prevent any possible act of “genocide” in Gaza and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid. However, the ICJ has no means to enforce its decisions.
While the war, at its 113e day, knows no respite, Qatar, Egypt and the United States are trying to mediate to reach a new truce, which would include the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners.
Some 250 people were kidnapped in Israel during the October 7 attack and taken to Gaza, including around 100 released at the end of November during a truce. According to Israeli authorities, 132 hostages are still held in the Gaza Strip, including 28 presumed dead.
The director of the CIA, the American intelligence service, will meet “in the coming days in Paris” his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts, as well as the Qatari prime minister, to try to conclude a truce agreement, according to a security source.