Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours during intense fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas and Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist movement said it was considering a proposed truce agreement with Israel .
In the Palestinian territory devastated by nearly four months of war and in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis, the aid operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to the civilian population are threatened and a meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at the United Nations on this subject.
In the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, a commando of Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in Jenin presented as “terrorists”. According to Palestinian sources, they were “shot” in a hospital by soldiers disguised as medical personnel and equipped with weapons equipped with silencers.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health on Tuesday, at least 128 people have been killed in the last 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, including “dozens” in Khan Younes, the large southern city and epicenter of the battle.
Witnesses reported Israeli nighttime strikes in several areas of the territory, and the Palestinian Red Crescent reported artillery fire around the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younes.
“In recent weeks, our operations have focused on Khan Younes […] which is the Hamas capital for southern Gaza,” declared Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari, reporting “more than 2,000 terrorists eliminated.”
Hamas prepares its response
The war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel which killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
Some 250 people were kidnapped and taken to the neighboring Gaza Strip, including around a hundred released at the end of November under a truce. 132 hostages remain detained, including 28 presumed dead according to Israel.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, and launched a vast military operation which left 26,751 dead, the vast majority civilians, according to a latest report from the Ministry of Defense. the Health of the Palestinian Movement.
Entire neighborhoods of the besieged Palestinian territory have been destroyed by incessant Israeli bombardments which have forced 1.7 million Palestinians, out of a total of 2.4 million inhabitants, to flee their homes.
A few kilometers further south of Khan Younes, in Rafah, tens of thousands of displaced people are crowded together in desperate conditions, in a very small area against the closed border with Egypt. And many say they fear that the soldiers will continue their offensive into the city.
On Tuesday, Qatar-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said his movement had received a proposed truce with Israel, the result of a meeting in Paris last weekend between CIA Director William Burns. and Egyptian, Israeli and Qatari officials.
“Hamas is examining the proposal that circulated during the meeting” in Paris and is preparing its response, according to a statement in Gaza from the movement, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
On Monday, Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani announced that a framework for a truce accompanied by further releases of hostages would be transmitted to Hamas, reporting “notable progress” at the meeting in Paris.
Meeting at the UN
In New York, a meeting of UNRWA’s main donors is planned at the initiative of UN chief Antonio Guterres to try to maintain funding for the organization.
Several countries suspended funding after Israel accused 12 of UNRWA’s 30,000 regional staff of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack.
“Without this funding, the outlook for UNRWA and the millions of people it helps is very bleak,” Mr. Guterres’ spokesperson said. UNRWA fired several of the employees involved and promised an investigation.
This controversy, “as important as it is, distracts attention from the nearly 27,000 deaths, 70% of them women and children” in Gaza, declared a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO). ), Christian Lindmeier, in Geneva.
“This distracts from the fact that an entire population is prevented from having access to clean water, food, shelter”, and “is subjected to continuous bombardment […] “, he continued.
In the region, fears of a greater extension of the conflict resurfaced after the death on Sunday of three American soldiers killed in Jordan in a drone attack, blamed by Washington on pro-Iran groups.
The United States promised “substantial” retaliation. Iran has denied any involvement.
The violence, linked to the conflict between Hamas and Israel, also affects navigation in the Red Sea, Iraq, Syria and the Israeli-Lebanese border.