the Israeli army expands its ground operations – L’Express

On Sunday, the Israeli army reported 17 salvos of rockets fired from Gaza. Most of the rockets were intercepted by the Israeli air defense system.

⇒ The Israeli army continues to expand its operation against Hamas.

⇒ Six Thai hostages return this Monday.

⇒ A vigil for “peace” in London.

The Israeli army is expanding its operations in the Gaza Strip this Monday. “The Israeli army continues to expand its ground operation against Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip. The army operates wherever Hamas has strongholds,” its spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said late Sunday evening. .

Israeli soldiers have been engaged in a ground offensive since October 27 in northern Gaza, where they have taken control of several sectors. Since fighting resumed Friday following the expiration of a week-long truce with Hamas, the army had mainly focused on air raids.

The Israeli army said it had carried out “around 10,000 airstrikes since the start of the war”. She announced on Saturday that in nearly 48 hours she had carried out more than 400 strikes on Palestinian territory, which mainly targeted the region of Khan Younes, in the south. Furthermore, the Israeli army reported on Monday five soldiers killed, including three on Sunday, since the resumption of fighting on Friday.

During the night from Sunday to Monday, a strike on an entrance to the Kamal Adwan hospital, located in the north of Gaza, caused several deaths according to the Palestinian Wafa agency. In a statement, the Hamas government accused the Israeli army of a “serious violation” of international humanitarian law.

Contacted by AFP to find out if it had bombed the perimeter of this hospital, the Israeli army did not respond immediately. Israel accuses Hamas of installing infrastructure in or under hospitals and using civilians as human shields.

Six Thai hostages held for several weeks in the Gaza Strip by Hamas are due to arrive in the kingdom this Monday, Thai authorities said. The Thais were working mainly in the agricultural sector in Israel when Palestinian militants crossed the border on October 7 in an offensive unprecedented since the creation of Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240, according to the Israeli authorities.

Among the Hamas hostages were 32 Thais, whose release the Foreign Ministry and Thai Muslim groups negotiated. Six of them are expected to land at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Monday around 2 p.m. local time after weeks of captivity.

Hundreds of people took part in an interfaith vigil in London on Sunday in memory of Israeli and Palestinian victims of the war between Israel and Hamas, and to call for peace.

On the stage, installed opposite Downing Street, where the official residence of the British Prime Minister is located, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Rabbi David Mason and Imam Monawar Hussain appeared together. Justin Welby called for “eliminating anti-Semitism and Islamophobia”, which have increased significantly in the United Kingdom, after the bloody October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli soil and the bombing of Gaza carried out in retaliation by Israel.

“We will not let anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in our streets, our schools, our cities,” he added. “We remain united against all those who want to sow hatred and division in our communities,” added Imam Monawar Hussain. This vigil aimed to “build bridges” between communities, according to the organizers.

The Hamas health ministry said Sunday that 15,523 people, 70 percent of them women and children, have been killed since Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip began. An assessment that no independent source is able to verify.

“During the past hours, only 316 dead and 664 injured were able to be taken out of the rubble and brought to hospitals, but many others are still under the rubble,” said Hamas Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf. al-Qidreh, a toll that has increased since the end of the truce. In Israel, the attack launched by Hamas commandos left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, according to the authorities.