Israel and Hamas at war, day 24 | Netanyahu uncompromising on ceasefire

(Jerusalem) At the end of a day of intense fighting where the Israeli army pushed its offensive further inside Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was uncompromising on demands for a ceasefire and opening of a humanitarian corridor.

Indicating that Israel “did not start this war” and that a call for a ceasefire is one of “surrendering to the barbarity” of Hamas, the Israeli leader declared that this would not happen.

“The Bible says there is a time for peace and a time for war. It’s time for war,” added Benyamin Netanyahu, while in the Gaza Strip, the IDF has extended its attacks, notably by clamping down on the outskirts of Gaza City, and indicating that it has killed “dozens of terrorists barricaded in buildings and tunnels.”

Meanwhile, the situation for hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza is worsening. The British daily The Guardian reported, among other things, that in hospitals, pregnant women gave birth without anesthesia.

“Pregnant women are forced to undergo emergency caesarean sections without anesthesia,” said Hiba Tibi, spokesperson for Care West Banks.

” Doomed to fail “

For its part, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has sounded the alarm about the current system of aid to Gaza via the Egyptian border post of Rafah, which, according to it, is “destined to failure.”

“The handful of convoys authorized via Rafah are nothing compared to the needs of more than two million people trapped in Gaza,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA. Strongly condemning the “collective punishment” imposed by Israel on the Palestinians, Mr. Lazzarini asked members of the Security Council for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.

According to UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, 33 trucks bringing water, food and medical equipment entered the Gaza Strip via Rafah on Sunday.

For Pierre Pahlavi, full professor at the Canadian Armed Forces College in Toronto and associate researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair, Israel wanted to show that it had reached a new milestone in the war.

“It is too early to say, but historians will probably say that this was the moment when the Israelis acquired the initiative,” he analyzes in an interview. They would like to appear as those who dictate the operational tempo. »

The latter also doubts that the international community will agree to bend the Israeli position.

“Mr Netanyahu is not for a ceasefire. And Washington, which could have intervened to act in this direction, has just announced that this is not the ideal context. That makes this project illusory,” he says.

600 targets

Monday, 24^e day of the conflict, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles tore into Gaza City on three fronts. The main north-south road in the Palestinian territory was cut in two for an hour, witnesses said.

Israeli media broadcast images showing IDF soldiers on the roof of a hotel more than three kilometers inside Palestinian territory.

Also on Monday morning, Israel said it had struck some 600 Hamas targets in the past 24 hours, including anti-tank missile launch sites and weapons depots. A spokesperson suggested that Israeli operations would further intensify.

A hostage freed

During the day, several new reports were released regarding Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.

An IDF soldier, Ori Megidish, kidnapped on October 7, was released overnight, we learned. “The soldier underwent a medical examination. She is well and was able to meet her family members,” the IDF said.

A 76-second video was released by Hamas in which three women taken hostage ask Benjamin Netanyahu to conclude a prisoner exchange with the Islamist group and criticize the Israeli government for its response.

Hamas presents the three women – Danielle Aloni, Rimon Kirsht and Yelena Trupanob – as “a number of Zionist detainees sending a message to Benjamin Netanyahu and his government”. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office responded by denouncing “cruel psychological propaganda” by Hamas.

On Monday, Israel said Hamas was holding 239 hostages.

Shani Nicole Louk, a woman of German-Israeli origin in the hands of Hamas, died in custody, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced on the X network.

“We regret to announce that the death of Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman, is confirmed,” the Ministry said, adding that the young woman had “experienced unfathomable horrors.”

More and more refugees

Humanitarian and medical workers attached to the UN, for their part, expressed their fears of seeing Israeli fire coming closer and closer to hospitals in the territory, where thousands of refugees are crowded alongside the sick and wounded. The Palestinian Red Crescent was alarmed by strikes near al-Quds hospital, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

During the day, UNRWA reported that 10 more aid workers had been killed by bombings in the past 72 hours. This brings to 63 the number of people attached to this agency who died under the bombs.

The agency also deplored the very difficult conditions in which displaced Palestinians live in shelters, which reach “almost four times their capacity”. It is currently estimated that 511,000 people are crammed into 92 shelters in pitiful sanitary conditions.

American forces attacked

Finally, the Pentagon announced that American troops currently stationed in Syria and Iraq had been attacked at least 23 times since the events of October 7.

Iran has justified these recent attacks by citing Washington’s assistance to Israel in the war.

During the day, the Jewish state also hit targets in Syria in response to aggressive fire. The Israeli army also claimed on Tuesday to have carried out airstrikes in Lebanon targeting the Shiite movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

With Le Figaro, The Guardian, The Times of IsraelRFI, CNN and Agence France-Presse