Hamas attacks in Israel “are akin” to crimes against humanity, according to Paris – L’Express

The death toll from the Hamas offensive against Israel has risen to 1,200 deaths on the Israeli side, the Israeli army spokesperson declared on the morning of Wednesday, October 11. 169 Israeli soldiers were killed, the army said. In the Gaza Strip, the human toll is 1,055 dead, according to local authorities.

France, for its part, deplores 11 deaths, according to a final report announced in the evening by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opposition rival Benny Gantz announced on Wednesday that they had agreed to create an emergency government for the duration of the war, four days after the launch of a major offensive by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

At the end of a meeting between the Prime Minister and the president of the National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, “the two men agreed on the establishment of an emergency government and “a war cabinet,” they said in a joint statement. The war cabinet will be made up of the two men and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The press release specifies that five members of Benny Gantz’s party will be appointed ministers without portfolios and a place in the security cabinet will be retained for the other opposition leader, Yaïr Lapid, former Prime Minister and head of the centrist Yesh Atid party.

The Israeli Prime Minister on Tuesday described the Hamas offensive as “savagery not seen since the Holocaust”, promising that his country would “win with force, enormous force”.

The Israeli army, which counted more than 3,000 Palestinian shots, launched Operation “Iron Sabre” on Saturday, carrying out airstrikes and destroying buildings presented as Hamas “command centers” in Gaza. The terrorist movement announced that two of its senior officials had been killed by Israeli army strikes. More than 260,000 Palestinians have been displaced inside Gaza because of the strikes, according to the UN.

Israel has imposed a “total siege” on the Gaza Strip since Monday and announced that it had deployed tens of thousands of soldiers in the south of the country who fought against infiltrated fighters. He also strives to save Israelis taken hostage by Hamas. Furthermore, the Israeli authorities decided to evacuate residents from around Gaza and ordered the “immediate” shutdown of the water supply to the Gaza Strip, or 10% of the territory’s annual water consumption.

Israeli warplanes bombed an Islamic university in the Gaza Strip linked to the Palestinian movement Hamas on Wednesday, a campus official and an AFP correspondent said. Furthermore, the only power plant in the Gaza Strip shut down this Wednesday after running out of fuel, announced the head of the Palestinian enclave’s Energy Authority.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Israel since the offensive. On the Palestinian side, 900 people were killed, according to local authorities. Furthermore, Israel announced Tuesday that it had found around 1,500 bodies of Hamas fighters on its soil and an NGO claimed that more than 100 people had been killed in a single kibbutz in southern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Tuesday evening that Hamas’ attack on Israel was “savagery not seen since the Holocaust”, during a telephone interview with US President Joe Biden.

Eighteen Thais, twenty-two Americans, ten Nepalese, seven Argentinians, eleven Frenchmen, two Ukrainians, two Russians, one Cambodian, two British, one Cambodian and one Canadian were killed in the Hamas offensive, according to Hamas authorities. their countries. Paris also announced a “special flight” Air France “this Thursday” to repatriate French nationals from Israel.

Israel has acknowledged that nearly 150 Israeli civilians and soldiers were kidnapped. Many foreign nationals are missing. Four of the hostages held by Hamas were killed in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian movement said. Eight Palestinian journalists have also died in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip since Saturday, according to the Palestinian press union.

The armed branches of Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced this Wednesday “heavy rocket fire” targeting southern and central Israel. A hospital in Ashkelon reported being hit by a rocket fired from Gaza, with no injuries.

Hamas threatened Monday evening to execute Israeli hostages in response to strikes on the Gaza Strip. “Every time our people are targeted without warning, it will result in the execution of one of the civilian hostages […] The enemy does not understand humanitarian and ethical language, so we are going to speak to them in a language that they understand,” he threatened. The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that they had launched the offensive to “put an end to the crimes of the occupation”. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, annexed the eastern part of Jerusalem and has imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007.

“We are on the verge of achieving a great victory,” said Ismaïl Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, at the start of the offensive. The movement called on “resistance fighters in the occupied West Bank” as well as “Arab and Muslim nations” to join its fight.

The Israeli army announced Wednesday evening that it suspected “an aerial infiltration” from Lebanon into northern Israel, where rocket warning sirens sounded in several towns and localities. A team of AFP journalists reporting in the region had to take shelter in a bunker in Tiberias, like many residents.

The Passive Defense (responsible for protecting the population) for its part spoke of a “large-scale” attack in the regions of Tiberias and Beit Shean.

“Deeply concerned,” the United States warned Lebanese Hezbollah on Monday evening not to open a “second front” against Israel. Hezbollah, Israel’s nemesis, announced the death of three of its members by Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon. He later said he had bombed two Israeli barracks.

Earlier on Monday, the “Al-Quds Brigades”, the military branch of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which claims to support Hamas, claimed responsibility for an infiltration operation into Israeli territory from Lebanon. For its part, the Israeli army indicated that it had “killed several armed suspects who had infiltrated Israeli territory from Lebanese territory.”

On Wednesday, Israel bombarded southern Lebanon after new rocket attacks, according to the official Lebanese News Agency (ANI). The Israeli army, for its part, indicated that it was bombing Lebanese territory “in response to anti-tank missiles which targeted Israeli soldiers”. The Lebanese movement Hezbollah claimed responsibility for new fire from southern Lebanon against Israel on Wednesday, saying it was acting in response to the death of three of its militants killed Monday by Israeli bombings.

And in the north, the Israeli army struck Syria in response to rocket fire.

Emmanuel Macron will bring together the heads of all political parties represented in Parliament on Thursday at the Elysée to discuss the situation “following the terrorist acts committed in Israel”, the presidency announced on Wednesday, which specified that the head of the The State will speak in a televised address Thursday evening at 8 p.m.

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs estimated Wednesday evening that the attacks committed by Hamas in Israel amounted to crimes against humanity. Asked on France Info radio whether these attacks were crimes against humanity, Catherine Colonna replied: “the legal characterization of these crimes will be given when the time comes, but we can consider that this is similar to such crimes.” The minister also announced that 11 French people had been killed in the attacks perpetrated by Hamas against Israel, according to a final assessment which is still provisional.

France wants to “avoid the situation of escalation”, wants “a political resolution” of the conflict, declared Wednesday morning Olivier Véran, the government spokesperson. “France stands more than ever and will always stand on the side of democracy and freedom, France rejects and will always reject unambiguously, without reservation, the barbarity of terrorism,” he insisted during the count- report from the Council of Ministers. The minister also assured that “not a single euro of French (humanitarian) aid reaches a terrorist organization, directly or indirectly.”

“We will not let anything pass,” warned the Minister of Education Gabriel Attal, during a visit to a Jewish school in the Paris suburbs, regarding anti-Semitic attacks, acts or words within establishments. schools.

The United States began sending military aid to Israel and moving its carrier strike group closer to the Mediterranean. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken will visit Jordan in addition to Israel, during his trip to the Middle East scheduled for Wednesday to Friday. For its part, the UN recalled that Israel’s total siege of the Gaza Strip is “prohibited” by international humanitarian law. The European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council pleaded on Tuesday for “sustainable financial support” to the Palestinians, following a joint meeting of their foreign ministers in Oman.

“At the dawn of Shabbat last Saturday, the whole world woke up in horror. The Hamas terrorist attack is an act of war. We fully support Israel’s right to defend itself. Europe stands with Israel in this tragedy,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on the X network (formerly Twitter).

Pope Francis on Wednesday called for the “immediate” release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, while saying he was “very concerned” about the siege of the Gaza Strip.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar say they are increasing contacts to put an end to the escalation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview broadcast on France 2 on Tuesday evening, accused Russia of “providing its support, in one way or another, to the operations carried out by Hamas” in Israel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, considered that the conflict demonstrated the “failure” of United States policy in the Middle East, deeming the creation of a Palestinian state “necessary”. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the head of state, declared that Israel does not behave “like a state” in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army launched new raids on Wednesday, denouncing the “shameful methods” of the Israeli army. Iran has placed itself at the forefront of supporting the Hamas offensive, while rejecting accusations of its involvement. The head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, assured that his organization rejected violence “on both sides”. Arab foreign ministers will meet on Wednesday at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.