The Gaza Strip suffered intense bombardment on the evening of Friday September 27. The Israeli army is expanding its ground forces on the enclave. All contact would have been lost with the Gaza Strip, according to NGOs and telecommunications services.
Unprecedented bombings hit the northern Gaza Strip this Friday, October 27 in the evening. The Israeli army claimed this Saturday, October 28, to have “hit 150 underground targets” in the area. The bombings concerned, according to the IDF, “terrorist tunnels, underground combat spaces and additional underground infrastructure”. In these strikes, the army allegedly killed members of Hamas and “terrorists” including “the head of the Hamas air network, Asem Abu Rakaba”. The IDF claims to have also killed Ratab Abu Tshaiban, commander of Hamas’ “naval force of the Gaza brigade”. However, the Palestinian organization has not yet communicated on the subject. Hamas reported “violent fighting” on Friday evening in the Gaza Strip. Ground fighting was postponed by a branch of the Islamist organization after the announcement by Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israeli army, who had assured the development of “ground forces this evening” on Friday.
As Israeli strikes intensified to unprecedented levels, telecommunications were cut in the Gaza Strip. Access to the Internet has been blocked, said Netblocks, an Internet connectivity observatory. Information corroborated by Palestinian telecommunications operator Jawwal, which declared on Facebook that telephone and Internet services had been cut because of the bombings. Many organizations have warned of the dangers of this cut. The Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he no longer had contact with health establishments in Gaza and deplored this breakdown in communications which made it difficult for “ambulances to reach the injured”.
The call of Hamas
If Hamas initially declared having fired, “in response to the massacres against Palestinian civilians”, several “salvos of rockets” in the direction of the Hebrew state, the organization now calls “on the Arab countries and Muslims and the international community”, asking them “to assume their responsibilities and act immediately to stop the crimes and massacres against [son] people”.
Meanwhile, on Telegram, a Hamas member called on Palestinians in the West Bank to join the fight, while a senior member of the organization assured that Hamas is “ready” to face in the event that Israel launches an offensive earthly.
Latest assessment
The latest report from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-owned Gaza Strip shows 7,326 deaths since the start of the war on October 7. Nearly 19,000 people have been injured since the bombing began. However, these figures were announced before Israel’s offensive on Friday evening and should be taken with caution. Washington notably questioned Hamas’s record, saying it did not have confidence.
In response to these accusations, however, Hamas published Thursday evening a list with the names, ages, genders and identity numbers of 6,747 Palestinians he said have been killed since the start of the Israeli response. Hamas also indicated that it was awaiting information concerning 281 other bodies. On the Israeli side, the death toll is still estimated at 1,400 deaths.
Hamas is still holding 229 hostages, including 30 children, according to the Israeli army. One of the leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group assured Russian media Kommersant this Friday, October 27 that no hostage will be released until there is a ceasefire with Israel. Hamas also announced that “nearly 50” hostages were killed in the Israeli strikes.
The French victims
Thirty-five French people have died since the start of the strikes between Israel and Hamas, according to the latest report announced Thursday October 26 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which “deplores the tragic death of new French nationals”. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, among the nine missing French nationals “some of them” were taken hostage. Catherine Colonna also indicated that she had “proof of life” of the hostages.
In addition to the hostages, 54 French nationals are stuck in the Gaza Strip, as well as around a hundred people who work for organizations, according to French authorities. At the end of a European summit in Brussels this Friday, October 27, Emmanuel Macron announced that France was preparing the evacuation of its 170 nationals in Gaza.
International reactions
- The UN General Assembly called for an “immediate humanitarian truce” on Friday evening. “A lot [de civils de Gaza] will soon die” because of the siege led by Israel and the lack of water, food and medicine, estimates the UN. The humanitarian aid delivered is insufficient to meet the needs of 1.4 million displaced Gazans according to the organization. Earlier in the evening, on hostages and the delivery of vital supplies on the necessary scale.” And Antonio Guterres warned: “Everyone must assume their responsibilities. It’s a moment of truth. History will judge us all.” In response, Israel described the UN resolution as “infamy”.
- The European Union also called for the establishment of “humanitarian corridors” and “pauses” in the bombings to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. The EU also called on Thursday for the resumption of a peace process and defends the two-state solution, already mentioned by Emmanuel Macron during his trip to the Middle East on October 24 and 25. The Twenty-Seven said they were in favor, on October 26, of the organization of an “international peace conference”.
- United States said they were ready to “support humanitarian pauses in order to let in [de l’aide]as well as allowing people to leave”, specifying that this included the restoration of electricity and the entry of fuel into the Gaza Strip. Calls for humanitarian pauses which were, however, rejected by Israel. “Israel is opposed to a humanitarian pause or a ceasefire at this stage,” declared the spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, echoed by Reuters. American President Joe Biden spoke also said to be in agreement with the two-state solution, which however seems to be ruled out by the government of Israel.
Tensions between the United States and Iran
Tensions between the United States, Israel’s ally, and Iran, close to Hamas, are rising on the sidelines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States also carried out strikes on two Iranian installations in Syria in response to “an ongoing series of attacks”, the American Minister of Defense said in a statement. communicated published October 26. The same day, the Pentagon spokesperson indicated that nearly 900 American soldiers are deployed or being deployed in the Middle East, to “support regional deterrence efforts and strengthen the protection capabilities of American forces”.
The Iranian Foreign Minister, for his part, warned the United States: “I say frankly to the American statesmen who are currently managing the genocide in Palestine that we do not want the expansion of the war in the region. But if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire!”
Images of the conflict
The context
The war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023 with a surprise and massive strike launched by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on the Jewish state. Many fighters carried out incursions near the Gaza Strip border while airstrikes were launched. These terrorist attacks gave rise to scenes of horror and massacres in several Jewish kibbutzim in Israel.
Israel ordered the response within hours of the attack before imposing a siege on Gaza on Monday, October 9. The same day, the Israeli army announced that it had regained control of the border with the Gaza Strip. Since then it seems to be preparing a ground attack on Palestinian territory.