Intense fighting raged on Tuesday between the Israeli army and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where more than 120 Palestinians died according to the Islamist movement, with international mediators continuing negotiations for a truce.
In the territory devastated by nearly four months of war and in the grip of a serious humanitarian crisis, the aid operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to the civilian population are threatened and a meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at the UN on this subject.
In the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, a commando of Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in Jenin presented as “terrorists”. According to Palestinian sources, they were “shot” in a hospital by men dressed in civilian clothes and equipped with weapons equipped with silencers.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry on Tuesday, at least 128 people were killed in the last 24 hours in fighting and Israeli aerial bombardments in the Gaza Strip, including “dozens” in Khan Younes, where the situation is critical. in major hospitals.
Witnesses reported nighttime Israeli strikes in several areas of the territory, and the Palestinian Red Crescent reported artillery fire around the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younes, the large city in the south of the Palestinian territory and epicenter of the battle.
“In recent weeks, our operations have focused on Khan Younes […] which is the Hamas capital for southern Gaza,” declared Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari, reporting “more than 2,000 terrorists eliminated” in this city.
” Very important ”
The war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel which killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures. Some 250 people were kidnapped during the attack, including around a hundred released at the end of November during a truce. 132 hostages remain detained, including 28 presumed dead according to Israel.
In response, the State of Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, and launched a vast military operation which left 26,637 dead and more than 50,000 injured, largely majority of civilians, according to the Palestinian movement’s Ministry of Health.
Entire neighborhoods of Gaza were destroyed by Israeli bombings which pushed 1.7 million Palestinians, out of a total of 2.4 million inhabitants, to flee their homes.
A few kilometers further south of Khan Younes, in Rafah, tens of thousands of displaced people are crowded together in desperate conditions, in a very small area against the closed border with Egypt. And many say they fear that the soldiers will continue their offensive into the city.
Faced with this major humanitarian crisis, talks are continuing with the participation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States to achieve a new truce, after that at the end of November.
A framework for a truce accompanied by new releases of hostages will be transmitted to Hamas, said Monday in Washington the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani, reporting “notable progress” during a meeting on Sunday in Paris between CIA Director William Burns and senior Egyptian, Israeli and Qatari officials.
“Very important and productive work has been accomplished,” said the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken on Monday.
These discussions took place as a serious crisis affects UNRWA, with several countries having suspended their funding to the organization after Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 regional employees of involvement in the Hamas attack on 7 october.
Meeting at the UN
The head of Israeli diplomacy Israel Katz canceled an interview planned for Wednesday with the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, whose resignation he demanded.
Mr. Blinken, whose country is the first donor to UNRWA, considered it “imperative” that this agency investigate these accusations.
A meeting of major donors is planned for Tuesday in New York at the initiative of UN chief Antonio Guterres, to try to maintain funding.
“His message to donors, particularly those who have suspended their contributions, is to at least ensure the continuity of the agency’s operations,” his spokesperson said. Without this funding, “the outlook for UNRWA and the millions of people it helps is very bleak”, he added.
“We live off the help that UNRWA gives us. If it stopped, we would die of hunger and no one would come to our aid,” laments Sabah Masabih, 50, in Rafah.
In the region, fears of a further extension of the conflict resurfaced after the death on Sunday of three American soldiers killed in Jordan in a drone attack, blamed by Washington on pro-Iran groups.
The United States promised “substantial” retaliation. Iran has denied any involvement.
The violence also affects shipping in the Red Sea, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated that soldiers stationed in Gaza were “going up to the north (of the country) and preparing for what comes next,” a reference to the Israeli-Lebanese border, the scene of exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, supported by Iran and ally of Hamas.