Daily life is still tougher in Gaza this Thursday, December 28. Many hospitals are no longer functioning, famine is spreading and it is not possible to have access to drinking water in certain localities. Diseases are also increasing and even Israeli soldiers are exposed to them. On Wednesday, December 27, one of them, wounded in combat and infected by a fungus present in wastewater in Gaza, died.
What you must remember :
■ The fights at the Lebanese-Israeli border cross a new level. In the first weeks of the conflict, Hezbollah and the Israeli army observed tacit rules of engagement which allowed residential areas to be spared and exchanges of fire to be limited. But these safeguards have been shattered in recent days.
■ strikes on central Gaza raise fears of a expansion of the conflict. Israeli forces also increased raids in major cities in the occupied West Bank during the night. The army general staff also warned of an intensification of shooting along the border with Lebanon, the country from which Hezbollah operates.
■ An Israeli soldier died as a result of a infection linked to contact with wastewater in Gaza. Around ten other soldiers are said to be suffering from the same infection, and it is likely that the Palestinian population is also confronted with it, while the health situation is more difficult than ever.
■ Hamas Ministry of Health announces a new death toll of 21,110 since the start of the war, October 7, and more than 55,243 injured. 1 140 people were killed during the Hamas attack on October 7, according to data provided by the Israeli government. The Israeli army said Thursday it had killed more than 2 000 Palestinian fighters since the end of the truce in early December.
Information given in universal time (Paris+1)
08:37: The UN calls on Israel to end “ unlawful killings » in the West Bank
08:11: The Palestinian Red Crescent announces the death of at least ten people and many injured after a bombing near al-Amal hospital in Khan Younes
07:36: Thousands attend General Mousavi’s funeral in Iran
Thousands of people attended the funeral in Tehran on Thursday of the commander of the Revolutionary Guards killed Monday in Syria in an Israeli strike, according to state media. Brigadier General Razi Mousavi, a senior commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm and elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, was killed in a missile launch Monday, south of Damascus. Tehran accused Israel, which did not deny it.
This death occurs in the middle of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel, Tehran’s sworn enemy, and Hamas, a Palestinian movement supported by the “resistance front”, of which Iran is a member. Thousands of people gathered in central Tehran on Thursday at Imam Hussein Square, chanting “ death to Israel “, ” death in the United States “.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the family of Razi Mousavi earlier Thursday. At the funeral, Revolutionary Guards leader Hossein Salami hailed Mousavi as “ one of the most experienced and effective Guardian commanders in the resistance front “. Asked about the strike that killed him, Israel said not comment on information from foreign media “.
07:19: Israeli armed forces say they have discovered tunnels under and around hospitals in Gaza, including al-Rantissi Hospital, believed to have been used by Hamas
IDF troops are uncovering Hamas’ tunnels inside and around multiple hospitals within Gaza.
The Rantisi Hospital is just another terrorist stronghold used to connect and transfer terrorists and weapons throughout Gaza to be used against Israelis. pic.twitter.com/aYBkpgsfn9
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 27, 2023
06:32: The fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border reaches a new level
On the Lebanese-Israeli border, escalation is the key word between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, who have clashed daily since October 8. The Shiite party has lost 125 fighters since the start of the clashes and Israel, for its part, deplores 13 deaths including 9 soldiers. The violence on the ground is accompanied by verbal threats as Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, declared on Wednesday that the situation on Israel’s northern border ” must change » and that the time for diplomacy is running out. “ We are prepared for all eventualities, we will retaliate against all of Israel’s crimes “, replied Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah.
In the first weeks of the conflict, Hezbollah and the Israeli army observed tacit rules of engagement which allowed residential areas to be spared and exchanges of fire to be limited to a border strip of 3 to 5 kilometers on both sides of the line of fire. demarcation. But these safeguards have been shattered in recent days, explains our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah deployed unparalleled firepower since October 8 and fired around a hundred Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, including around thirty at the town of Kiryat Shmona. Hassan Nasrallah’s party launched kamikaze drones, heavy missiles equipped with 300 kilo explosive charges and guided missiles, not to mention artillery shells.
This escalation comes the day after an Israeli air raid on the town of Bint Jbeil, located two kilometers from the border, where a Hezbollah fighter and two civilian members of his family were killed. In recent days, Israeli aircraft have targeted targets deeper, destroying many homes. On Wednesday, combat planes, attack drones and artillery targeted the outskirts of around thirty Lebanese localities. Residents of southern Lebanon are now worried that the fighting will spread to all of their towns and villages.
06:22: Gaza accuses Israel of stealing organs from unidentified Palestinian bodies
Local authorities in Gaza accused Israel of stealing organs from the bodies of Palestinians that were returned to Gaza on Tuesday, December 26. In a statement, the Gaza-based government media office said examination of the bodies revealed that their shapes had changed significantly due to the theft of vital organs from the corpses.
He added that the Israeli army had handed over unidentified bodies to Palestinian authorities and refused to specify where they were found.
Israeli forces have been accused by Gaza’s gov’t media office of stealing organs from Palestinian bodies that were handed over by Israel’s military on Tuesday ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/K12FQnDzmp
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 28, 2023
06:05: Pedro Sánchez will not participate in the international coalition in the Red Sea
Spain will not participate in the international coalition to protect maritime traffic in the Red Sea against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. After opposing an expansion of the mission of the European operation Atalanta, which has been fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean since 2008, Madrid warns that it will not mobilize its ships for a Western operation.
The official reasons for socialist Pedro Sánchez’s refusal to oppose the United States in military operations in the Red Sea against Yemen’s Houthi rebels are not known. What is certain is that several Spanish soldiers expressed their astonishment after the decision, reports our correspondent in Madrid, Francois Musseau. For some, this amounts to going against Spain’s economic interests. According to several media, Madrid does not like the idea of participating in an operation that is not under the umbrella of NATO or the European Union. But it seems that there are also domestic political motives at work.
If he wishes to give the green light to a military operation of this type, Pedro Sánchez must go through Parliament. However, its allies, the radical left Sumar and the Catalan or Basque separatists, are opposed to the Israeli cause and favorable to the Palestinians in Gaza. It would remain for the Socialists in power to obtain the support of the major right-wing party, the People’s Party. But they are at loggerheads with its leaders, resistant to a rapprochement with the government. For the moment, Spain cannot and wants to engage in the Red Sea.
Read alsoGaza: Ships diverted from the Red Sea face congestion in African ports
05:40: Strikes on central Gaza raise fears of “expansion” of conflict
The Israeli army is concentrating its operations this Thursday, December 28 on the center of the Gaza Strip despite a critical situation for civilians, calls for a ceasefire and a possible ” expansion » operations on the border with Lebanon.
In addition to the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are increasing raids at night in major cities in the occupied West Bank, notably in Jenin and Ramallah, where Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority is based, according to the official Wafa agency.
The army general staff warned of an intensification of shooting along the border with Lebanon, the country from which Hezbollah operates, a movement which, like Palestinian Hamas, is part of ” the axis of resistance », a grouping of armed groups close to Iran and hostile to Israel.
Near the Lebanese border, in the Golan annexed by Israel, a drone crashed during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the Israeli army told AFP after a nebula of fighters from pro-armed groups Iran claimed responsibility for an attack on this area.
5:25 a.m.: Israeli soldier dies after being infected by fungus found in sewage
On Wednesday evening, the WHO warned of the serious danger weighing on the population of Gaza, who no longer have food and very little drinking water. The same evening, an Israeli soldier wounded in combat died after being infected by a fungus present in sewage in Gaza, reports our special correspondent in Jerusalem, Hajera Mohammad.
Fusarium or Aspergillus is one of these two fungi which undoubtedly killed this soldier, according to Professor Cyrille Cohen, who directs the immunotherapy laboratory at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv: “ What happened is that we are talking about an infection during contact with sewer wastewater or obviously the sludge near this wastewater. Sometimes with open wounds, the wound can become infected and at that time the fungus can enter and multiply. It can destroy the respiratory tract, destroy different organs and also neutralize the immune system. »
The non-contagious infection is treatable, a treatment exists, but in the case of this seriously injured soldier, it did not work: “ Not only did the treatments not work, but we also tried certain experimental treatments. And unfortunately, there was no possibility of saving the life of this soldier who was also seriously injured. »
Around ten other soldiers are said to be suffering from the same infection. No comments have yet been made from the Israeli army because there is no question of creating a psychosis. But if a fungus sickens soldiers in Gaza, it must undoubtedly also sicken Palestinians, for whom access to care has become very difficult, if not impossible, since the start of the war.
► Find here our live from November 27