Israel and Hamas at war, day 23 | Violent fighting underway, UN fears collapse of public order in Gaza

Hamas said on Sunday evening that “violent fighting” is underway with the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, where the UN fears the collapse of “public order” after looting of food aid centers .

Internationally, calls are increasing to allow humanitarian support to pass and provide relief to Palestinian civilians, with US President Joe Biden calling for a “dramatically and immediately” increase in aid to the Gaza Strip.

Besieged since October 9, the Palestinian territory is subject to incessant bombardments by the Israeli army triggered by the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, unprecedented in its scale and violence.

Hamas, in power in Gaza, claims that more than 8,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli bombings.

In Israel, more than 1,400 people have died since October 7, mainly civilians killed on the day of the Hamas attack, according to the authorities.

Strikes on the Gaza Strip have gradually intensified since Friday evening, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says he wants to “destroy the military capabilities and leadership of Hamas”, announcing on Saturday a “second stage of the war”.

Israel’s primary supporter, the United States called on its ally to “take all possible measures at its disposal to distinguish between Hamas […] and civilians,” according to a White House adviser.

On the ground, the Palestinian Islamist movement reported “violent fighting” on Sunday evening. […] using automatic and anti-tank weapons” in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army has been operating on the ground since Friday evening.

The Israeli army had assured earlier that its air force, “guided by troops [au sol]had struck Hamas military structures in the north of the Gaza Strip,” and reported rocket fire from Palestinian territory towards central and southern Israel.

One soldier was seriously injured by mortar shells overnight from Saturday to Sunday and another was lightly injured in the fighting, according to the army.

Little help

Since October 9, Israel has imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, electricity and food, while the territory was already under an Israeli blockade.

Ten humanitarian aid trucks were able to enter on Sunday via the Rafah crossing point with Egypt, bringing to 94 the number of these vehicles arriving since October 21, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

It would take 100 per day in this 360 m territory² where 2.4 million inhabitants are crowded together, deprived of everything.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has warned of a collapse of “public order” in the wake of the looting of warehouses and food aid distribution centers.

In Rafah (south), Souleimane al-Houli deplores the crowd scenes in front of his bakery: “I’m upset, I can’t give bread to everyone. The bakery only produces 30 batches per hour. It’s way less than what people need.”

Aïcha Ibrahim, 39, claims to have queued in front of two other bakeries “since 5:30 in the morning”.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron insisted on Sunday on the need for “urgent humanitarian support for Gaza”, according to Downing Street.

The White House, for its part, reported a call from President Biden to Benjamin Netanyahu in which he “stressed the need to immediately and considerably increase the flow of humanitarian aid to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza.” He did the same in an appeal to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.

Netanyahu under pressure

For Benjamin Netanyahu, the objective of this war is “clear: destroy the military capabilities and leadership of Hamas”, which he describes as a “terrorist” organization like the United States and the European Union, and “bring back the hostages at home,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

On October 7, in the middle of Shabbat, the weekly Jewish rest, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrated from Gaza onto Israeli soil, where they carried out the deadliest attack since the creation of Israel in 1948. They took 239 people hostage, including “many foreign workers”, according to Israel.

Relatives of the hostages are increasingly unhappy with the “absolute uncertainty” they face, said Haim Rubinstein, their spokesperson. Four women have been released so far. Hamas estimates the number of these hostages killed in the bombings to be “nearly 50”.

The Israeli Defense Minister on Sunday accused Hamas of “psychological manipulation” over the hostages after the Palestinian movement said it was ready to release them in exchange for Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, an association which defends their rights, some 5,200 Palestinians are incarcerated by Israel.

“Red lines”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Sunday that the Israeli army had repeatedly bombed the area around one of its hospitals in Gaza, causing damage and endangering patients and thousands of civilians who had come to take refuge there.

“We received firm threats” from Israel to “immediately evacuate al-Quds hospital, because it was going to be bombed,” hospital director Bachar Mourad told AFP.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has reported 57 attacks on medical facilities since the start of the war.

Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals to hide weapons or fighters, something the Palestinian movement denies.

The international community fears a regional conflagration, while Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi, whose country supports Hamas, estimated on Sunday that Israel had crossed “the red lines”, which “could” decide other parties “to cross to action.”

One of the fears of conflagration concerns the border between Israel and Lebanon, which saw an increase in tensions on Sunday compared to previous exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the powerful Hezbollah movement since October 7.

The Israeli army reported new fire from Lebanon towards the area of ​​Har Dov and Kiryat Shmona and said it had returned fire towards the source of the fire.

Hezbollah, for its part, indicated that it had shot down an Israeli drone over Israeli territory with a surface-to-air missile and announced the death of one of its fighters.

Tension is also very high in the occupied West Bank, where five Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli army fire, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.

Since October 7, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank, occupied since 1967 by Israel.

The situation was already tense before this war with frequent raids by the Israeli army, an increase in abuses by Israeli settlers against the Palestinian population and Palestinian attacks against settlements and Israeli security forces.