The Israeli army is strengthening its grip on northern Gaza, as thousands of Palestinians are fleeing south in the hope of finding shelter, after more than a month of bombings and a siege that deprives them of food and of water. “They are leaving because they understand that Hamas has lost control of the north and that the situation is more secure in the south,” said Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Wednesday evening, adding that the “corridor “evacuation center” open for a few hours each day since November 5 towards the south of Gaza would be operational again on Thursday.
On Wednesday, nearly 50,000 residents left Gaza City, according to the Israeli army, bringing to 72,000 the number of people who have left since that date, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).
A humanitarian conference on Gaza opens in Paris
France is hosting on Thursday, at the initiative of its President Emmanuel Macron, a “humanitarian conference” to try to release aid to Gaza, made almost impossible by Israel’s incessant bombings since the bloody Hamas attack on 7 october.
The Israeli government will not be represented at this conference organized at the Elysée. The Palestinian Authority will be represented by its Prime Minister and Egypt, which controls the only crossing point to Gaza not held by Israel at Rafah, will send a ministerial delegation. The conference aims on the one hand to arrive at a common diagnosis of the situation and to “mobilize all partners and donors to respond to these needs”, according to an advisor to Emmanuel Macron. A second part is planned on pledges of donations as well as an “exchange on humanitarian access” to the territory, always extremely complicated.
A ‘more targeted’ Israeli offensive in Gaza is ‘vital’
A “more targeted” offensive by Israel in Gaza is “vital”, influential US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on Wednesday in an interview with AFP. “I think that the number of civilians killed is too high and that a more targeted offensive would be important and vital,” declared the elected official, member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
In the Gaza Strip, 10,569 people, mostly civilians including 4,324 children, were killed by Israeli bombings, according to the latest report from the Hamas Ministry of Health, a report that no independent source has yet confirmed. able to verify. Along with around twenty of his peers, Senator Chris Murphy sent a letter on Wednesday to US President Joe Biden, the leader of his party, urging Israel to “respect the laws of war” and to “learn from the mistakes” of the United States in the fight against terrorism.
Netanyahu once again rejects any ceasefire without the release of hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again rejected on Wednesday any ceasefire in the Gaza Strip without the release of hostages held by Hamas, amid reports of mediation by Qatar for a humanitarian truce. “I would like to dismiss all kinds of vain rumors that reach us from all sides, and clearly repeat one thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages. Everything else is futile,” declared Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with representatives of West Bank settlers, according to a press release from his office.
A source close to Hamas in Gaza told AFP that Qatar was mediating to free 12 hostages, including six Americans, in exchange for “a three-day humanitarian truce”.
Medicines and equipment delivered to Gaza’s main hospital
A shipment of medical supplies and medicines has arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, the United Nations said Wednesday evening, but warned that more was needed. “Although welcome, the quantities we have delivered are far from sufficient to meet the immense needs of the Gaza Strip,” assure Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, his WHO counterpart. .
They described the “disastrous” conditions in which the hospital operates. Doctors are forced to operate in corridors, on the floor or in the open air, “while patients endure excruciating and unnecessary pain due to shortages of drugs and anesthetics.”
US strikes Iran-linked site in Syria
The United States on Wednesday struck a “weapons storage facility” in Syria linked, it says, to Iran, in response to attacks on American personnel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. Attacks against American sites have increased in Syria and Iraq in the context of the war in Gaza, the United States having provided military support to Israel.
“US military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a site in eastern Syria used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups,” the Pentagon chief said in a statement.
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