Israel and Hamas at war, day 81 | More than 240 Palestinians killed by Israel in 24 hours according to Hamas

More than 240 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas, with the Israeli chief of staff warning Tuesday that the war would last for “many more months” despite pressing calls to a ceasefire.

In this context, the UN announced the appointment of Sigrid Kaag, a Dutch minister, to coordinate the humanitarian response in the narrow strip of besieged land where 85% of the population has been displaced and lacks everything, four days after the adoption of a Security Council resolution to this effect.

Beyond Gaza, the specter of a widening conflict still looms, with new exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where nine Israeli soldiers were injured Tuesday by rocket fire from the movement Lebanese.

After intense Israeli bombardments, thick clouds of smoke rose above Khan Younes, the large southern city where Israel says it is concentrating most of its offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 .

Nearly three months after the start of the war, triggered by a bloody attack launched on October 7 by Hamas in Israel, the ground fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters, as well as the devastating Israeli aerial bombardments, show no signs of of respite.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after this attack carried out by commandos infiltrated from Gaza, which left around 1,140 dead, most of them civilians, according to the latest official Israeli figures. Around 250 people have been kidnapped, according to Israel, of whom 129 remain detained in Gaza.

In Israeli military retaliatory operations in Gaza, 20,915 people were killed and 54,918 injured, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.

Among the dead are 241 people killed in the last 24 hours in strikes, he said.

“Many months”

According to the UN, famine threatens in the territory and most hospitals are out of service.

Subjected by Israel to a total siege since October 9 after more than 16 years of Israeli blockade, the Gaza Strip was affected by a new telecommunications cut on Tuesday.

In addition to Khan Younes, where many displaced people who fled the fighting in the north are massed, Israeli strikes targeted the neighboring town of Rafah, further south, where tens of thousands of displaced people are crowded into makeshift camps.

Israel “claims that there are safe inhabited areas, but this attack contradicts its lies,” said a survivor, Abou Baraa, in the ruins of a house destroyed by a bombing in Rafah.

The army issued a new evacuation order to residents of the al-Bureij camp (center) and its surroundings. Some fled to Rafah, where they arrived with their luggage piled on the roof of their cars, according to AFP images.

“We are deeply concerned about the continued Israeli bombardment of central Gaza. […] All attacks must strictly respect the principles of international humanitarian law, in particular the distinction between civilians and military personnel, said the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The army announced on Tuesday that it had struck more than 100 Hamas targets over the past day, including tunnel entrances and military sites in Jabaliya (north) and Khan Younes.

Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union in particular, “must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized and Palestinian society deradicalized” to achieve peace “with Palestinian neighbors,” he said. declared to Wall Street Journal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

“The objectives of this war are not easy to achieve. The war will last for many more months,” said Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi after meeting soldiers in Gaza.

Five soldiers killed, nine injured

On Tuesday, the army announced the death of five soldiers in the fighting in Gaza, bringing to 161 the number of soldiers killed since the start of its ground offensive on October 27.

Faced with the dire conditions of the civilian population in Gaza, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, once again called for “an immediate ceasefire”.

On Tuesday, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer was to meet with the head of American diplomacy Anthony Blinken and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. On the agenda: the war between Israel and Hamas as well as the release of the hostages.

Historical allies of Israel, the United States is increasingly insisting that Israel favor more targeted operations.

International aid continues to arrive in insufficient quantities and humanitarian efforts “are not close to meeting the needs of the population of Gaza”, according to the head of the WHO.

The efforts of mediators, especially Egyptian and Qatari, have so far failed to achieve a new humanitarian truce, due to the intransigent positions of the protagonists.

At the end of November, a one-week truce allowed the release of 105 hostages against 240 Palestinian prisoners and the entry of significant aid into Gaza.

Furthermore, fears of an extension of the conflict persist, especially with the violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border and attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels against ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

According to the Israeli army, nine soldiers and a civilian were injured by rocket fire from Lebanese Hezbollah, one of which hit a church in northern Israel.

The Houthi rebels, for their part, claimed responsibility for a drone attack against a ship in the Red Sea and a missile strike towards Israel, which was intercepted.

Attacks attributed to pro-Iranian groups against American troops have also increased in Iraq and neighboring Syria. And the United States carried out strikes against three sites used by pro-Iranian groups in Iraq, which left one person dead.

On Monday, Iran accused Israel of killing one of its senior officers, Razi Mousavi, in a strike in Syria in which three other pro-Iranian fighters also died. Tehran has promised to avenge his death.