The Israeli army on Saturday bombed the Gaza Strip where the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for more than eight months has reignited tensions on the Lebanese border and in Yemen in recent days.
Hopes for a ceasefire appear to be fading as conflicting demands from Israel and Hamas leave little hope of seeing the plan announced two weeks ago by US President Joe Biden come to fruition. .
On the ground, bombings and ground fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters continued on Saturday, according to residents, particularly in Rafah and the surrounding area of this large city in the south of the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian border.
Images from AFPTV show deserted streets in this large city in the Palestinian territory in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis. Famine threatens the Gaza Strip where 75% of the approximately 2.4 million residents have been displaced by the war, according to the UN.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 8,000 children under the age of five have been treated in Gaza for acute malnutrition, “including 1,600 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.”
The war was sparked on October 7 by the attack launched by Hamas from Gaza in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count compiled from official Israeli data. Of 251 people kidnapped, 116 are still held hostage in Gaza, of whom 41 are dead, according to the army.
In retaliation, the Israeli army launched a large-scale offensive in Gaza that left 37,266 people dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
Fears of a spillover of the conflict beyond the Gaza Strip have grown in recent days. The Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, said its intense strikes since Wednesday on Israeli territory were in response to Israel’s assassination of one of its commanders.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France, the United States and Israel would develop a French road map in “trilateral” format to contain tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant rejected this new initiative on Friday, accusing Paris of “hostility” towards Israel, statements denounced as “inappropriate” even within Israeli diplomacy.
For their part, the Yemeni Houthi rebels, allies of Hamas who say they act in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, have claimed responsibility in recent days for a series of attacks against ships in the Red Sea, which pushed Washington to “destroy” in Yemen seven radars necessary for this type of operations.
During a new tour of the Middle East this week to promote a Gaza ceasefire plan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “the best way” to help resolve the violence between Hezbollah and Israel was “to resolve the conflict in Gaza and achieve a ceasefire.”
The only truce concluded so far, at the end of November, lasted a week and allowed the release of 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis and binationals, exchanged for 240 Palestinians detained by Israel.
On the sidelines of the G7 Summit which ends on Saturday in Italy, Mr. Biden criticized Hamas for blocking a ceasefire offer. “I submitted a proposal approved by the Security Council, by the G7, by the Israelis, and the main obstacle at this point is Hamas refusing to sign, even though they proposed something similar,” he said. Biden said on Thursday.
The truce plan announced on May 31 by the President of the United States, Israel’s main ally, provides in a first phase for a six-week ceasefire accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from the densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of certain hostages held in Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Mr. Biden presented this plan as coming from Israel. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deemed it incomplete, reaffirming his government’s determination to continue the war until the defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages.
Hamas sent the mediating countries — Qatar, Egypt and the United States — a first response, which according to a source close to the discussions, contains “amendments” to the plan, including “a timetable for a permanent ceasefire and the total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza”. Demands that Israel has always rejected.
In Gaza, the temporary American jetty which allows humanitarian aid to be transported to the population by sea will be removed in anticipation of rough seas, the American Middle East Command (CENTCOM) announced on Friday, specifying that it would be moved to the Israeli port of Ashdod.