Israel and Hamas at war, day 85 | No respite for the New Year

The bloodiest attack in the history of Israel, the deadliest operation in the history of Gaza: Israelis and Palestinians end a dark year on Sunday (local time) with no perspective on the end of the fighting and their world after .

In these last hours of the year 2023, there is no respite from air raids, artillery fire and ground fighting in the Gaza Strip, to the great dismay of an “exhausted” Palestinian population.

“We hoped that the year 2024 would arrive under better auspices and that we would be able to celebrate the New Year, at home, with family. But the situation is difficult,” says Mahmoud Abou Shahma, 33, in a camp for displaced people in Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip.

“We hope for the end of the war and that we can return home to live peacefully,” adds the man from Khan Younes, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip and the new epicenter of the war between Israel and Hamas.

In recent weeks, the Israeli army has deployed in the north of Gaza, then towards Khan Younes (south) and recently in the camps in the center of this territory where 1.9 million inhabitants (85% of the population) had to flee their homes due to the fighting.

This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the growing threat of the spread of infectious diseases.

During the night, the Hamas Ministry of Health reported numerous deaths in strikes in Al-Mughazi and Al-Zawayda (center) which will be added to the 21,672 people, mostly women and minors. , already killed in Gaza since the start of the war, the death toll by far the heaviest of all Israeli operations.

This devastating war was triggered by an unprecedented attack on October 7 by Hamas on Israeli soil, which left around 1,140 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.

In response, Israel has sworn to “destroy” the Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip, and is relentlessly shelling this territory where 129 of the approximately 250 hostages taken by Hamas and its local allies remain captive during the Gaza attack. October 7.

“Bring them back”

On Saturday evening, more than a thousand people demonstrated in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages and their loved ones, chanting “bring them home!” “.

“I try to be optimistic. I’m really trying to be optimistic. I hope there will be another agreement, even partial, or that information will be released. I’m trying to hold on to every bit of hope,” Nir Shafran, 45, said at the scene.

Gal Gilboa-Dalal remains traumatized by October 7. He had gone with his brother Guy to a party stormed by Hamas commandos.

“I was there with him and he was taken away the minute I wasn’t with him. I went there with him and came back without him and it’s like time has stood still ever since. I’m waiting for him to come back. Every day is hell,” he said on the sidelines of the demonstration in Tel Aviv.

” Several months ”

International mediators, led by Qatar and Egypt, managed to negotiate a one-week truce at the end of November which allowed the release of more than 100 hostages and the entry of limited aid into Gaza. And they are currently continuing their efforts towards a new pause in the fighting.

According to the American sites Axios and Israeli Ynet, Qatar indicated to Israel that Hamas accepted the principle of a resumption of talks with a view to the release of more than 40 hostages in exchange for a cease-fire which could be extend up to a month.

A delegation from Hamas, a movement classified as terrorist by the EU, the United States and Israel in particular, arrived in Cairo on Friday to convey “the response of the Palestinian factions” to an Egyptian plan providing for the release of hostages and a pause in the clashes.

This response will be given “in the coming days,” said Muhammad al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of Islamic Jihad, an armed group fighting alongside Hamas, in a statement.

Questioned on Saturday evening, Benjamin Netanyahu remained evasive about these behind-the-scenes negotiations.

“Hamas issued a whole series of ultimatums which we rejected […] We see a change (but) I do not want to create expectations,” he declared, assuring that “the war will continue for several months”

The multiplication of fronts

The war in Gaza has reignited tensions on the border between Lebanon and Israel, an almost daily scene since October 7 of exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah, a movement close to Iran and which supports the Hamas.

Israel said it had increased strikes on Saturday against Hezbollah “positions” which announced the death of four of its fighters “on the road to Jerusalem”, a term used to designate its members who have fallen since October 7.

“We are hitting hard against Hezbollah […] and if Hezbollah wants to extend the war, it will take blows like never before, and so will Iran,” Benyamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday evening.

In the Red Sea, an American destroyer shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from territory controlled by the Yemeni Houthi rebels, allies of Tehran who threaten traffic on this strategic sea route in “support” of Gaza.

The American Navy, which patrols this key sector, had also responded to a request for assistance from a Danish container ship “hit” by a missile in the Red Sea.