The Israeli army announced Monday that it was carrying out an operation on the al-Chifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip where there are “tens of thousands” of displaced people according to Hamas. According to witnesses on site, bombings as well as exchanges of fire and fighting are currently taking place.
Information to remember
⇒ Israel carries out operation on Gaza’s largest hospital
⇒ The NGO Oxfam accuses Israel in a report of “deliberately” preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza
⇒ Netanyahu promises to evacuate the population before any operation in Gaza
Israel carries out operation on Gaza’s largest hospital
Israeli soldiers “are currently carrying out a targeted operation in the area of al-Chifa hospital” in Gaza City (north), reported Monday morning an Israeli army press release, adding that “the operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by high-ranking Hamas terrorists. On the spot, witnesses confirmed to AFP “air operations” in the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City where the health establishment is located in which “shrapnel” allegedly fell.
Neighborhood residents claimed that “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” had entered al-Rimal. Some also report “fights” around the hospital. The Israeli army speaks through loudspeakers to residents, asking them to stay at home while “drones shoot at people in the streets near the hospital”, according to witnesses on site interviewed by AFP. The hospital is no longer operating at a minimum and with a reduced team. Less than a third of hospitals in the Gaza Strip are operational, and only partially, according to the UN. However, it would be a reception center for thousands of displaced people, according to Hamas.
In Washington, the Irish Prime Minister calls for a ceasefire in Gaza
The Palestinians “need the bombing to stop,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said, pleading for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Sunday in Washington during the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meeting with the president American. “The people of Gaza are in desperate need of food, medicine and shelter,” said Leo Varadkar.
Leo Varadkar is one of the most critical European leaders of the war waged by Israel after the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7. He called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, while US President Joe Biden is calling for a six-week truce. The United States also continues to send weapons to Israel. “The Irish people are deeply distressed by the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes in Gaza,” said Leo Varadkar.
Oxfam accuses Israel of “deliberately” blocking the entry of humanitarian aid
The NGO Oxfam accused Israel in a report on Monday of “deliberately” preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, whether food but also medical equipment, in violation of international humanitarian law. “Despite its responsibility as the occupying power, Israel’s practices and decisions continue to systematically and deliberately block and prevent any meaningful international humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip,” Oxfam wrote in its report.
The NGO denounces in particular “unfairly ineffective” aid inspection protocols, which create delays of “twenty days on average” to allow trucks to enter the Palestinian territory, or even “attacks against personnel humanitarian organizations, aid structures and humanitarian convoys. She also criticizes the “daily” blocking of certain equipment classified as “dual-use”, material considered to be able to be used for military purposes. According to the NGO, 2,874 trucks entered the territory in February, or “only 20% of the daily aid” which entered before October 7.
Netanyahu promises to evacuate the population before any operation in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Sunday that the Palestinians crowded in Rafah would be evacuated before any military operation against this city in the south of the besieged Gaza Strip. While reaffirming his determination to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, “the last bastion of Hamas” according to Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu assured Sunday alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that such an operation will not be carried out “by leaving the population locked up on the spot”. The international community fears the prospect of such an assault. The pressure comes mainly from the United States, Israel’s main allies, which reiterates its opposition to any offensive in Rafah which would endanger the civilians who are refugees there.
“A large number of victims in such an offensive would make any prospect of peace in the region very difficult,” Mr. Scholz told journalists during a stopover in Jordan. “No international pressure will prevent us from achieving all the objectives of our war […] We will act in Rafah, it will take a few weeks but it will take place,” launched Benyamin Netanyahu during a meeting of his government, according to his services. On Friday, he approved “the action plans” for this offensive, involving a “evacuation of the population”.
The body of an Israeli soldier killed on October 7 held in Gaza
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that a soldier, counted as one of the hostages taken to the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel, had been killed that day. The army said in a statement that Captain Daniel Perez, 22, was killed on October 7 and that “his body is in the hands of a terrorist organization.” His father, Rabbi Daniel Perez, said Saturday evening during a rally in favor of the release of the hostages that “all the hostages taken from their cradles, from their beds and those who defended their people must return unconditionally.”
Daniel Perez was on the list of people kidnapped in southern Israel during the Hamas attack which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally. from official Israeli sources. The confirmation of his death brings to 33 the number of hostages who have died, according to Israeli authorities, out of a total of 130 still held in the Gaza Strip.