Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a ceasefire in the war against Hamas which entered its second month on Tuesday, despite repeated calls for a humanitarian truce in Gaza and a death toll of more than 10,300 according to the Palestinian Islamist movement.
During the night, Israeli aerial bombardments against the Palestinian territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas continued unabated, killing more than 100 people according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Under air cover, Israeli ground troops continued to advance into the Gaza Strip after encircling Gaza City and cutting the territory in two, according to the army.
“Stop this unjust war […]. They target civilians in their homes. Stop this destruction machine. Save us,” said Hicham Koulab, a displaced Palestinian, caught by Israeli bombings in Rafah in the south of the territory.
In Israel, a minute of silence was observed in several cities and institutions including Parliament, in memory of the more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, who died in the attack launched on October 7 by Hamas from the Gaza Strip which he controls.
During this attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Hamas fighters infiltrated in southern Israel, bordering the Gaza Strip, took hostage 241 people taken to Gaza. In retaliation, Israel declared a war to “annihilate” Hamas, relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip and penetrating deep into the territory.
“There will be no ceasefire in Gaza without the release of our hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an interview with the American channel ABC News on Monday evening.
“Regarding the small tactical breaks, an hour here, an hour there, we have already had them,” added Mr. Netanyahu, after an announcement from the White House evoking the “possibility of tactical breaks” to allow civilians to flee the fighting and the flow of humanitarian aid.
“Terrible scar”
While Israel unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, Mr. Netanyahu affirmed that his country would take “for an indefinite period, general responsibility for security” in the Palestinian territory after war, to prevent, according to him, a return of Hamas, an organization described as “terrorist” by the United States and the European Union.
A month after the start of the war, on the esplanade of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, more than a thousand people, mainly students and teachers, observed a minute of silence together, then prayed and sang the ‘National anthem.
“The atrocities have left a terrible scar, trauma on a personal level but also on a national level,” said Asher Cohen, the president of the university, several graduates of which were killed, while testimonies followed one after the other, interrupted through tears.
A teacher shows the photo of his son and his girlfriend killed by Hamas commandos: “They believed in peace. »
While 10,328 people, the majority civilians including 4,237 children, died in Israeli bombings in Gaza according to a latest report Tuesday from the Hamas Ministry of Health, the UN, NGOs, leaders of the Arab world and other countries continue to call for a ceasefire.
An idea also rejected by the United States, Israel’s close ally, which is pushing for “humanitarian pauses” and insisting on Israel’s right to defend itself.
On Monday, the head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, again urgently called for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in the small Palestinian territory, transformed according to him into a “cemetery for children”. He also condemned “heinous terrorist acts” by Hamas on October 7 and castigated this movement which uses “civilians as human shields”.
“Different war”
On Sunday evening, the Israeli army intensified its bombing campaign by air and sea. The most intense ground clashes are taking place in the north of the territory, where the city of Gaza is located, which according to Israel is home to the “center” of Hamas. .
Over the past 24 hours, “troops have secured a Hamas military stronghold in the northern Gaza Strip, seizing missiles, anti-tank launchers, weapons and various intelligence materials,” according to the army. In coordination with ground troops, fighter jets bomb “terrorist cells” and destroy “Hamas tunnels.”
At least 30 Israeli soldiers, according to the army, have been killed since October 27.
“This is a war unlike any we have known,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
“No safe place”
Israeli bombings are having a severe impact on the approximately 2.4 million Palestinians trapped in the 362 km2 territory. They have been deprived of water, electricity and food deliveries by the siege imposed by Israel since October 9, when Gaza had already been subject to an Israeli blockade for more than 16 years.
They also pushed 1.5 million people onto the roads, according to the UN.
“We are civilians. The Jews (Israelis) say go to a safe place. There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip,” protested Bilal Loubad, a Palestinian displaced person in Rafah, as people gathered around the bodies of their loved ones killed in a strike.
The Israeli army has repeatedly called on Palestinian civilians in leaflets or SMS messages to leave the north of the Gaza Strip towards the south. But Israeli bombings continue to affect the south of the besieged territory.
In Khan Younes, also in the south of the Gaza Strip, rescuers searched under the rubble for survivors after nighttime Israeli strikes destroyed homes.
After morning strikes on neighborhoods in Gaza City, thousands of residents, including children, took the road south and will have to travel kilometers on foot. On one of the streets used by the displaced, some of whom displayed white flags, Israeli tanks were stationed.
“Ocean of needs”
In addition to the devastating bombings and fighting, the fleeing Palestinians complain of having no water or food, and according to Mr. Guterres, the 569 aid trucks that have arrived in Gaza since October 21 are “nothing compared to the ‘ocean of needs’.
While the international community fears an extension of the conflict, exchanges of fire continue on the Israeli-Lebanese border, between the Israeli army on the one hand, and Hezbollah and its allies including Hamas, on the other.
Violence has also increased in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where more than 150 Palestinians have been killed by fire from Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority.