Israel said on Wednesday that it had launched an “offensive action” on southern Lebanon and was moving forward in Gaza with its preparations for a ground operation on Rafah in its war against Hamas, despite warnings from the international community.
The Palestinian Islamist movement, for its part, released a video showing one of the hostages kidnapped during the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli soil which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
These developments come after the US Senate approved $13 billion in military aid to Israel.
On Israel’s northern front, the Israeli army said Wednesday that its offensive concerned “the entire south” of Lebanon and specified that its air force and artillery had struck 40 targets of Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, around Aïta el -Chaab.
“Troops are deployed in large numbers at the border. […] Half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated, the other half are in hiding and leaving the field open for Israeli military operations, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.
Hezobollah did not immediately react, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said there had been no border crossings.
Displace civilians from Rafah
At the same time, the Israeli army carried out new deadly strikes on Wednesday in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Early Wednesday, hospital and security sources in Gaza reported strikes in the sectors of Nousseirat (center) and Rafah (south). A total of 79 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours, according to Hamas.
“We are not terrorists,” Robhi El Hout, a resident of Deir El Balah (center) whose house was destroyed in an Israeli strike, told AFP.
Many foreign capitals are particularly concerned about ongoing preparations for an Israeli operation on the town of Rafah, at the southern end of Palestinian territory.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has assured for weeks that this city, where a million and a half people have found refuge, is the last bastion of Hamas.
“Israel is continuing its operation aimed at targeting Hamas in Rafah,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Wednesday. “Two brigades of reservists have been mobilized for operations” in Gaza, he added, specifying that there are “four battalions [du Hamas] still in Rafah” who are targeted by the army.
According to Egyptian officials, cited by the Wall Street Journal, Israel is preparing to move civilians from Rafah to the nearby town of Khan Younes, in particular, where it plans to set up shelters and food distribution centers.
” A crime “
The evacuation of Gazan civilians would last two to three weeks and would be carried out in coordination with the United States, Egypt and other Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, according to these officials.
Such an operation “would be a crime” declared to AFP the director of the government press office in Gaza, Ismaïl Al-Thawabta, assuring that the center of Gaza and the town of Khan Younes “absolutely cannot accommodate” the displaced from Rafah.
Satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies and published by AFP show tents recently installed in the south of the territory.
The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out from Gaza against Israel by Hamas commandos, which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official data. Israelis.
More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain captive in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials. In retaliation, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada and the European Union in particular.
Its vast military operation in the Gaza Strip left 34,262 dead, mostly civilians, according to Hamas.
One of the Israeli Prime Minister’s stated objectives in the war in Gaza is to bring back the hostages, whose families and loved ones regularly gather to try to put pressure on their government and obtain their release.
Video of a hostage
Hamas broadcast on Wednesday, on its Telegram channel, a video of a hostage, who appears alone on the screen and introduces himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, kidnapped during the Nova music festival.
AFP could not confirm the date the video was filmed, but the hostage was referring to the Jewish holiday of Passover which began Monday evening.
On the diplomatic front, Israel thanked its American ally for the package of military aid it granted. This aid of 13 billion dollars should notably make it possible to strengthen its “Iron Dome” anti-missile shield, deployed at its borders.
While the population of Gaza faces a risk of famine, according to the UN, American President Joe Biden on Wednesday promulgated a law including humanitarian aid for Gaza, calling on Israel to “ensure that all this aid reaches the Palestinians without delay.”