Find our update on Friday’s situation here.
Dozens of people were killed during the night of Friday 16 February to Saturday 17 February in renewed Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip. Fears intensified for at least 120 patients and 5 members of a medical team trapped without water, food or electricity at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younes, the main city south of the Gaza Strip, according to the Defense Ministry. Islamic movement Hamas.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army has continuously bombarded the small territory: according to the latest report by Hamas’ Ministry of Health, 28,858 people have been killed in the Palestinian enclave, with 68,667 wounded.
The Israeli military must operate in southern Gaza, in the city of Rafah, home to about 1.4 million Palestinians, or else it “Lose the War” Against Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a press conference on Saturday evening.
US President Joe Biden, whose country is a primary supporter of Israel, recalled on Friday that an operation in Rafah “Shouldn’t be done without a credible plan” For the safety of citizens. French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the operation in Rafah would be a success “For an unprecedented humanitarian disaster”. “Anyone who wants to prevent us from carrying out operations in Rafah is effectively telling us to lose the war. I’m not going to give up on this.”Mr. Netanyahu declared.
The Israeli prime minister also assured that the army would continue its operation in Rafah even in the event of an agreement with the Palestinian Islamic Movement to release the hostages still in the Gaza Strip.
Complex negotiations between mediated countries, Egypt, Qatar and the United States over a ceasefire, the release of hostages in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel continued on Saturday, but Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. , estimated that they were not “Not very promising in recent days”.
Hamas threatened on Saturday to abandon the talks if additional aid was not delivered quickly to the Gaza Strip, including the north of the area. “There can be no negotiations until the Palestinian people are hungry. The movement intends to suspend negotiations until aid is delivered to northern Gaza”declared that “leader” In a press release broadcast by Hamas’ al-Aqsa, the movement’s channel. Asked by AFP, a senior official in the Palestinian Islamic Movement, requesting anonymity, confirmed that “Egyptian and Qatari Mediation (was) “Hamas’ intention to suspend negotiations until aid is delivered to the Gaza Strip, including the north,” was reported..
Hamas insists, among other things, a “Complete Ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Israel’s prime minister is currently rejecting Hamas’ demands. “We will always be optimistic. We will continue to push. We will do our best to come close” An agreement, said Mohammed Ben Abderrahman Al Thani. “We faced a dilemma (…) A ceasefire is in place (was) Conditional on pledge agreement”He noted during the Munich Security Conference. “It should not be conditioned. »
A November ceasefire agreement allowed the release of 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis, against 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. According to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 30 of whom are believed to be dead, out of about 250 people abducted on October 7.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog considered it important to continue cooperation with the aim of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which would mark. “Triumph over Actions” of Hamas. “I sincerely believe that moving towards normalization and making every possible effort is a very important historical opportunity”Announced the Israeli head of state at the Munich Security Council, calling all parties “To seize the moment”.
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As the chief of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, noted a while back, “Extraordinary Opportunity” In the Middle East, it is linked to fact “Virtually all Arab countries” Ultimately wanted to normalize relations with Israel. Responding directly to Mr. Blinken’s comments, the Israeli president acknowledged that there is “Opportunities”Having said that they decided that they should “Study Deeper”. “However, above all, Israel’s security must be preserved. And to that end, we must complete the task of undermining and eliminating the fundamental structure of Hamas.”
he added.For weeks, the Israeli army has concentrated its operations in Khan Younes, the hometown in Gaza of Hamas leader Yahya Sinauar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack. At Nasser Hospital, six patients, including a child, have died since Friday due to a power cut that stopped oxygen distribution, according to Hamas’ health ministry. “Risk of Neonatal Death in Next Hours”he said.
According to the army, the soldiers were admitted to the hospital on the base on Thursday “Reliable Information” According to which the hostages abducted on October 7 have been kept there and the bodies of some of them are still there. On Saturday, she announced that she had arrested 100 people at the suspected hospital“Terrorist Activities”And according to him, Hamas shells, grenades and other weapons were found.
Doctors described an intolerable situation at the hospital, one of eleven out of thirty-six open in the pre-war Gaza Strip. “barely functional”According to the World Health Organization. “More losses in hospitals mean more lives lost. » Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that its employees have “had to flee leaving the sick behind”. “The situation was chaotic, catastrophic”, according to Christopher Lockyer, Secretary General of MSF. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the raid “It appears to be part of a pattern of Israeli forces attacking critical life-saving infrastructure in Gaza, particularly hospitals”..
Under Israeli blockade, the Gaza Strip is one of the poorest regions in the Middle East, but before war broke out between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the population managed to eat enough. Today, after more than four months of war, Gaza’s population is getting closer every day “hunger” According to the UN World Food Program (WFP). The situation is particularly dire in the north of the region, where international humanitarian organizations are struggling to reach.
Since the beginning of the year, the UN has received Israeli approval for only twelve of the seventy needs assessment and assistance missions in the north for which it requested authorization, according to its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Condemns Israel’s sanctions. “There are 300,000 people in the north and I don’t know how they can survive. What we manage to transport to the north is not enough. It is pure misery.”OCHA’s head for the Palestinian territories, Andrea Di Domenico, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Every time we cross the Wadi Gaza checkpoint (Northern route) With help, thousands of people show up, block the trucks and evacuate them”he said.
In recent days, the NGO World Central Kitchen, which offers thousands of hot meals a day, said that it “compulsion” to Rafah, north of the Strip, to leave Gaza City. Located in the far south, close to the Egyptian border, the city has been transformed in recent weeks into a vast camp that now houses 1.4 million people, most displaced by raids and fighting.
Before the war, about 500 trucks with various goods entered the Gaza Strip every day. Since then, the number has rarely crossed 200, despite enormous needs. Israel is tightening restrictions on trucks entering the region to prevent weapons being sent to Hamas, or even the movement’s leaders leaving, which in effect limits aid delivery. Because of the numerous unexploded ordnance in the North, not to mention demonstrations by Israeli far-right groups seeking to block trucks in front of the entry point into Gaza, or the need for the UN to have deminers on board.
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