Twenty-six people, including 15 children, died Thursday in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to Civil Defense, shortly after Israel gave the green light to the resumption of negotiations for the release of hostages held in the territory. Palestinian.
The announcement of the resumption of talks comes after the broadcast of a video showing the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by fighters of the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, during its unprecedented attack in Israel, at the origin of the war .
On the ground, air strikes and artillery fire continue in the Gaza Strip, according to AFP journalists, doctors and witnesses.
The Civil Defense of Gaza City (north) indicated that two airstrikes had killed 26 people, including 15 children. Sixteen of them were killed in a strike that hit their home, the other ten in a bombing of a mosque and a school.
In 24 hours, at least 91 additional deaths were recorded in the Palestinian territory, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to requests from AFP.
PHOTO BASHAR TALEB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A Palestinian walks on the rubble of a destroyed house in Nousseirat following an Israeli bombardment, May 23, 2024.
“No distinction”
Violent street fighting also pitted the armed wing of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement against Israeli forces in Jabalia (north).
“We only hear the sound of explosions and shots in the eponymous camp,” assured a displaced Palestinian, Mahmoud al-Charif, 31 years old.
A senior Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip, Diaa al-Din al-Sharafa, was killed in an Israeli airstrike Thursday morning in the center of the territory, the Hamas interior ministry said.
“There are injured people, people whose legs have been torn off […] They make no distinction between citizens or anything else,” lamented Riyad Rajab in Deir al-Balah (center) after the collapse of a building.
Clashes also raged in Rafah (south), where the Israeli army launched ground operations on May 7 with the stated objective of annihilating the last Hamas battalions and rescuing the hostages, ignoring warnings. international guards over the fate of civilians. Consequence: 800,000 people fled Rafah according to the UN.
” We dont do [d’incursion] shattering on Rafah, we are operating with caution and precision,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli army, on Thursday.
PHOTO EYAD BABA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A woman stands next to a damaged building after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, May 22, 2024.
” Precision ”
The families of five female soldiers held hostage in Gaza on Wednesday authorized the broadcast of images, taken from a video filmed by Hamas commandos, in which some of these young women appear with bloody faces.
These images will “strengthen my determination to fight with all my strength until the elimination of Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted on Telegram, before convening his war cabinet late on Wednesday.
He “instructed the team of negotiators to return to the negotiating table to obtain the return of the hostages,” according to a senior government official.
Citing a “highly placed source”, the Egyptian media Al-Qahera News however indicated on Thursday that “the Israeli position was still not conducive […] to the conclusion of an agreement on a cease-fire and the release of the hostages”.
In early May, indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel, through Qatar, Egypt and the United States, did not result in an agreement for a truce in Gaza associated with the release of hostages and of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Aid delivery hampered
The October 7 attack, perpetrated by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, resulted in the death of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Of the 252 people taken as hostages on October 7, 124 are still being held in Gaza, including 37 dead, according to the army.
In response to the attack, the Israeli army launched a devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union and the United States in particular, took power in 2007.
At least 35,800 Palestinians, mostly civilians, died in the offensive, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
More than seven months of war have also caused a major humanitarian crisis in Gaza, worsened by the trickle of aid.
Since the deployment of the Israeli army on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, Israelis and Egyptians have blamed each other for the paralysis of this passage, which is essential for humanitarian logistics.
PHOTO MAYA ALLERUZZO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip arrive at the Tarqumiyah crossing point in the West Bank before being turned back with dozens of other trucks and sent back to Jordan.
In this context, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said on Thursday that Israeli authorities had recently given priority to goods from the private commercial sector to the detriment of humanitarian aid. at the main crossing point from Israel to the Gaza Strip, Kerem Shalom (south).
On the diplomatic front, Spain, Ireland and Norway announced on Wednesday their decision to recognize a Palestinian state, arousing the ire of Israel. It is “a reward for terrorism,” Benjamin Netanyahu immediately denounced.
On Thursday, the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jacob Blitstein, warned after a meeting with the ambassadors of these countries that their decision would have “serious consequences”, and that it would make “more difficult promotion of an agreement for the release of the hostages”.
On another level, the Islamist movement Hezbollah announced Thursday the death of one of its members in southern Lebanon in an Israeli strike which also injured three schoolchildren.
“We have detailed, important, even surprising plans” for this northern front, where Hezbollah, ally of Hamas, and the Israeli army have been clashing for months, declared Mr. Netanyahu.