The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken begins his fifth diplomatic visit to the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7. The United States wants to reach an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza, while fierce fighting continues in the south of the strip, in Khan Younes and Rafah – the next stage of the Israeli campaign. For his part, Stéphane Séjourné, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, affirmed on Sunday February 4 in Cairo that he was opposed to any forced displacement of Palestinians towards Egypt.
Information to remember
⇒ The heads of American and French diplomacy visiting the region to demand a ceasefire
⇒ The Israeli army bombed Khan Younes in the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday
⇒ After Khan Younes, the Israeli army should attack the town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt
New American diplomatic tour in the region
Antony Blinken, whose country is the main supporter of Israel, is expected this Monday, February 5 in Saudi Arabia, the first stop of his fifth trip to the region since the start of the war. The head of American diplomacy must also visit Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The objective: to achieve a second truce, after that of a week at the end of November. Around a hundred hostages held in Gaza were then exchanged for Palestinians held by Israel. Some 250 people were kidnapped on October 7, according to Israel, and 132 hostages are still being held in Gaza. Among them, 27 were declared dead by the army.
While saying it continues to support “Israel’s right to defend itself”, the United States displays growing frustration with the Israeli government. In Israel, Antony Blinken will put pressure on to increase the delivery of food, water and medicine to the Gaza Strip.
In Beirut, a Hamas official, Osama Hamdane, judged it premature on Saturday to talk about an agreement on a truce. The project drawn up by the Qatari, American and Egyptian mediators in Paris at the end of January is “a framework agreement which needs to be studied” by the Palestinian movement, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, a- he said.
According to a Hamas source, the proposal notably provides for a six-week truce with the release of 35 to 40 hostages in exchange for 200 to 300 Palestinian detainees. Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, is demanding a complete ceasefire. This is what Benjamin Netanyahu refuses despite pressure from the families of the hostages who demonstrate almost daily to demand the release of their loved ones.
Paris will refuse “any forced displacement” of Gazans to Egypt
The head of French diplomacy, Stéphane Séjourné, also on a regional tour to work “in favor of a ceasefire”, met on Sunday in Cairo with Egyptian President Abel Fattah al-Sissi and his counterpart Sameh Shoukry. Paris will refuse any “forced displacement” of the population of Rafah towards Egypt, a movement which could create new Palestinian refugees, he stressed.
Stéphane Séjourné was then received by his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, who stressed “the need to launch immediate and effective international action” for a ceasefire. The risk of the war extending to the region “increases every day”, he warned.
For his first tour in the region, the head of French diplomacy is also expected in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon to “work for a ceasefire and the release of hostages” and “convince to reopen a political perspective” based on the two-state solution, according to his ministry.
Bombings on Khan Younes
While the war will enter its fifth month on Wednesday, the Israeli army again bombed Khan Younes on Sunday, in the south of the territory where, according to it, leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement are hiding. She claimed to have invested there in a complex used by Hamas to prepare the bloody attack of October 7. It has, according to the army, served as a training center for Hamas, with models of kibbutz entrances, military bases and Israeli armored vehicles.
Still according to the army, Mohammad Sinouar had an office in this building. This senior commander of the armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, is the brother of Yahya Sinouar, the leader of the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip and considered the mastermind of the October 7 attack. According to an AFP journalist, airstrikes also targeted Rafah, further south, hitting a kindergarten according to Hamas.
Rafah, IDF’s next military objective
In Rafah, which had 270,000 inhabitants before the war, according to the UN, there are now more than 1.3 million people who have fled the fighting which devastated the besieged territory. Fears are growing in the face of a possible military offensive against this overpopulated city, located on the closed border with Egypt and where the humanitarian situation is disastrous according to NGOs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured that the army had destroyed the majority of Hamas “battalions”. “Most of those who remain are in the southern Gaza Strip and Rafah, and we will take care of them,” he added. “The pressure on Hamas is working,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, after assuring this week that Rafah was the next military objective. Ground fighting remains fierce and the army announced the death of a soldier on Sunday. The toll of Israeli losses stands at 225 soldiers since the start of its ground campaign at the end of October in the north of the Palestinian territory.
The United States strikes in Yemen
American forces announced that they had carried out airstrikes against five missiles in Yemen on Sunday February 4, the day after a wave of American-British air raids in the country in response to attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
The US military “conducted a strike in self-defense” against “a Houthi land attack cruise missile” and then against “four anti-ship cruise missiles, all prepared to be launched against ships in the Red Sea”, a statement said. communicated the US Middle East Command (Centcom) on social networks.
On Saturday, Washington and London carried out air raids against Iran-backed Houthi rebels – their third joint military action in response to attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea.