what to remember from Saturday February 3

Over the past 24 hours, the IDF claimed to have killed “dozens of terrorists” in the northern and central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army continued to shell the Gaza Strip on Saturday February 3, almost four months after the October 7 attacks in Israel and the start of reprisals against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave. In the past 24 hours, the IDF claimed to have killed “dozens of terrorists” in the north and center of the territory. According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, in power in Gaza, at least 100 civilians were killed overnight.

Fear of an offensive in Rafah

In the south of the Gaza Strip, Khan Younes is the target of incessant bombardments and artillery fire, according to an AFP journalist. The city, where Hamas leaders according to Israel are hiding, is partly destroyed. The IDF also shelled the town of Rafah south of Khan Younes on Saturday, where more than a million Palestinians threatened by the war have taken refuge. “Rafah is a factory of despair and we fear what will happen next”, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, was alarmed on Friday. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured that Rafah was the IDF’s next objective. “We will reach Rafah and eliminate the terrorist elements that threaten us”he said.

Syria and Iraq denounce American strikes

On Saturday, Syria and Iraq denounced retaliatory strikes carried out by the United States against elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian armed groups on their territories. A total of 85 targets on seven different sites (four in Syria and three in Iraq) were targeted, said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council. Washington promised other strikes in response to the attack, attributed by Washington to pro-Iran groups, against an American base in Jordan. Three American soldiers were killed.

Sworn enemy of the United States, Iran denounced “a violation of the sovereignty of Syria and Iraq” after these strikes, while Hamas considered that they put “fuel to the fire”. At least 29 pro-Iranian fighters were killed in these strikes in Deir Ezzor and Al-Mayadine, in eastern Syria at war, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). In Iraq, 16 people including civilians were killed, according to the government. The toll could, however, be heavier.

In Baghdad, the authorities castigated “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty”. In Damascus, the Syrian army ruled that “the occupation of certain parts of Syrian territory by American forces can no longer continue”.

Drones destroyed off Yemen

The United States announced on Saturday that it had destroyed eight drones off the coast of Yemen on Friday, and four on the ground in order to “protect freedom of navigation” attacks by Houthi rebels against maritime traffic. The strikes on Friday targeted a drone over the Gulf of Aden, seven in the Red Sea and four others on the ground, in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, said the US Middle East Command (Centcom).

The Houthi rebels, a movement supported by Iran, have increased attacks in the area in recent weeks, in response to operations carried out by Israel in Gaza.