The Israeli army continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza on Thursday with the capture of the port and remains deployed in the largest hospital where thousands of Palestinian civilians are crowded, despite criticism and calls from the UN for “breaks “prolonged humanitarian operations”.
What there is to know
- The Israeli army indicated that its soldiers were still in the al-Chifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, where, according to the UN, there are around 2,300 people (patients, caregivers and displaced people).
- The Israeli army said that “images relating to hostages” captured during the Hamas attack on Israel were found on computers seized during the army’s intervention in the hospital.
- The Hamas Ministry of Health claimed that the Israeli army had “destroyed the radiology department and bombed the burns and dialysis department” of al-Chifa hospital during its raid.
- The Palestinian Red Crescent reported a “violent attack” by Israeli tanks which “besieged” the Ahli Arab hospital, another establishment in Gaza City.
- The Israeli army claimed to have taken “operational control” of the port of Gaza City, presented as a “training center” for Hamas commandos to “plan and execute naval terrorist attacks”.
- The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said communications were once again “totally cut” with the Gaza Strip due to lack of fuel.
- The Israeli army is increasing raids and incursions in the occupied West Bank, where more than 190 Palestinians have been killed by settlers and Israeli soldiers since October 7.
- Israeli police announced Thursday that they had killed three attackers after a “shootout” near a security checkpoint linking Jerusalem to the West Bank, with Israeli emergency services reporting four injured.
Balance sheets
- At least 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, including 4,710 children and 3,160 women, according to a latest report from the Hamas government released Wednesday evening.
- The Hamas attack left around 1,200 dead on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians killed on October 7, according to Israeli authorities.
- The Israeli military estimates that around 240 people were taken hostage during the initial Hamas attack.
- It announced Thursday the death of three new soldiers in the fighting in Gaza, bringing to 51 the total number of its soldiers killed in the Palestinian territory since October 7.
Fighting has been raging for days in western Gaza City where the army announced that it had taken “operational control” of the port, located in the north of the Gaza Strip, at 41e day of the war.
The Palestinian movement, classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, used it “as a training center for its naval commando forces to plan and execute naval terrorist attacks”, according to the military.
The Gaza Port is a small fishing port whose activity is limited by the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power in this Palestinian territory in 2007.
The army has already taken the Parliament as well as the government and military police buildings in Gaza, buildings that are “empty” according to Hamas.
The army also confirmed to AFP that its soldiers were still deployed in the grounds of the al-Chifa hospital, in the same sector of the port, where, according to the UN, there are around 2,300 people (patients, caregivers, displaced people).
ISRAELI ARMY PHOTO, PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The Israeli army confirmed to AFP on Thursday that its “soldiers” were still deployed in this hospital where, according to the UN, there are around 2,300 people (patients, caregivers, displaced people).
A “targeted” operation began on Wednesday in the immense al-Chifa hospital complex, presented by Israel as a strategic and military center of Hamas, something the Islamist movement denies.
Strike on a gas station
Israel has vowed to “annihilate” Hamas since the bloody attack launched by the Palestinian movement on its soil on October 7, unprecedented since the creation of Israel.
On the Israeli side, this attack left around 1,200 dead, mainly civilians killed that day, according to the authorities.
Since the attack, 51 soldiers have also been killed in the Palestinian territory, according to the Israeli army.
In retaliation, Israel relentlessly shelled the Gaza Strip, which was subjected to an almost total siege. Israeli bombings left 11,500 dead, mostly civilians, including 4,710 children, according to the Hamas government.
According to him, several dozen people were killed in nighttime Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Nine civilians died in a strike on a gas station in the Nousseirat camp, in the center, where dozens of displaced people had found refuge.
In al-Chifa, “Israeli bulldozers partly destroyed the southern entrance” to the complex, “near the maternity ward”, already damaged by tank shell fire in recent days, the Ministry of Defense reported overnight. Hamas Health.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers, some hooded, burst into the hospital early Wednesday, according to an AFP journalist on site.
UN calls for pauses
The Israeli military claims to have found Hamas “ammunition, weapons and military equipment” there, releasing images of what it claims are weapons, grenades and other equipment.
ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES PHOTO, PROVIDED BY REUTERS
The Hamas Ministry of Health denied the Israeli announcements, saying it “does not authorize” the presence of weapons in its establishments.
The AFP was unable to independently verify either side’s claims.
Breaking its silence for the first time since the start of the conflict, the UN Security Council called for “urgent and prolonged humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza Strip. On X, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan considered this resolution “disconnected from reality”.
The raid on al-Chifa hospital sparked international condemnation and urgent calls to protect Palestinian civilians.
PHOTO AHMED EL MOKHALLALATI, PROVIDED BY REUTERS
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Thursday called for an international investigation to verify “extremely serious allegations” of violations of international law, “whoever their perpetrators may be”.
US President Joe Biden, a key supporter of Israel in its war against Hamas, called on his ally to be “extremely cautious” in conducting his hospital operation.
In Israel, pressure is increasing on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the hostage issue. A march of relatives of the hostages who left Tel Aviv on Tuesday to demand an agreement on their release was due to arrive in Jerusalem on Friday.
“Immediate” release of hostages
Israel recorded some 240 people kidnapped on October 7, including foreign nationals. One of them gave birth in captivity in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Netanyahu’s wife said on Wednesday.
While talks are being held via Qatari mediation for the release of the hostages, Joe Biden said he was “relatively optimistic”.
The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, for his part called for the “immediate release” of the hostages, during a visit to Beeri, in the south of Israel.
In this devastated kibbutz where at least 85 people were killed by Hamas commandos and around thirty others taken hostage, he called on the government to “not let itself be consumed by rage”.
Israel has so far refused any ceasefire without prior release of the hostages.
According to the UN humanitarian agency (Ocha), 1.65 of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have been displaced by the war, many fleeing the north of the territory where the fighting rages, to the south.
PHOTO YOUSEF MASOUD, THE NEW YORK TIMES
Attack in the West Bank
In the territory, subjected since October 9 by Israel to an almost total siege, the population is deprived of deliveries of water, electricity, food and medicine and international aid has been arriving there in dribs and drabs by truck since. Egypt.
Despite a first delivery of just over 23,000 liters of fuel on Wednesday via the Rafah crossing in the south of the territory, the UN warned that its aid operations in Gaza were “on the verge of collapse” and the head of United Nations humanitarian affairs called on Wednesday for an end to “the carnage in Gaza”.
Due to lack of fuel, the Palestinian telecoms operator Paltel announced on Wednesday “a suspension of all telecommunications services within a few hours”. This could “further threaten the lives of the people of Gaza,” the Human Rights Watch organization warned on Thursday.
On Wednesday, nearly 650 people, foreigners, dual nationals and wounded Palestinians, were evacuated to Egypt through Rafah, reported the Palestinian authority in charge of operations at the border terminal.
The war in Gaza has also made the situation “potentially explosive” in the occupied West Bank, warned Volker Türk, where the Israeli army is increasing raids and incursions. It claims to respond to a “significant increase in terrorist attacks” since the Hamas attack. More than 190 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers since October 7.
Israeli police announced Thursday that they had killed three attackers after a “shootout” near a security checkpoint linking Jerusalem to the West Bank, with Israeli emergency services reporting “four bullet wounds” including “one in critical condition.”