The Israeli army announced that it was intensifying its operations against Hamas in the south of the besieged Gaza Strip this Sunday, December 24, while the United States is pressing Israel to make more efforts to spare civilians, threatened by hunger. During a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden “stressed the crucial need to protect the civilian population”, according to the White House. Joe Biden clarified that he had “not asked for a ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement.
The United States continues to show unwavering support for its historic ally but recently, it has increasingly insisted that Israel move to a less intense phase of its offensive and favor more targeted operations against Hamas leaders. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas since an attack of unprecedented scale and violence carried out on its soil on October 7 by the Islamist movement from the Gaza Strip. That day, Hamas commandos killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to the latest official Israeli figures. They also kidnapped around 250 people, 129 of whom remain detained in Gaza, according to Israel.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, shelling Palestinian territory, besieging it, and carrying out a ground operation there since October 27. These operations left 20,258 dead, mostly women, adolescents and children, and more than 53,000 injured, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. Since the start of the conflict, 152 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, according to a latest army report published on Sunday.
New bastion targeted
On Sunday, new bombings hit Jabaliya and Gaza City in the north, as well as Khan Younes, the large city in the south, Hamas announced. The north has so far been the scene of enormous destruction, on this coastal strip where 1.9 million people have been forced to flee their homes, or 85% of the population, according to the UN. The Israeli army has announced its intention to continue striking in the South, in search of those responsible for Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, like the United States and the European Union.
After Gaza City, “we are pivoting towards the south and concentrating our main operations on another Hamas stronghold, Khan Younes”, explained an army spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, on the American channel Fox News. The fighting in the North “will continue, perhaps at a lower intensity”, he added.
“Grant us peace”
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is dire: most hospitals are out of service and in the next six weeks the entire population risks experiencing a high level of food insecurity, possibly leading to famine. , according to the United Nations. The UN Security Council voted on Friday a resolution calling for the “immediate” and “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid. But the scope of this text, which managed to avoid an American veto by calling for “creating the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities” rather than a “ceasefire”, remains uncertain. NGOs and UN agencies explain that the intensity of Israeli strikes makes the distribution of food aid almost impossible. The Gazans met by AFP castigate the international community.
This resolution “reinforces Israel’s decision to kill more civilians and prolongs the war against these people in exchange for a little food,” denounced Rami al-Khalut, a northern resident who fled to Rafah, in the South. “Rather than […] to increase aid deliveries, stop supporting Israel and supplying it with weapons, […] stop the war and grant us peace.” In Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are sheltering in makeshift camps, the population is rushing for food rations, insufficient to satisfy everyone, noted the AFP: “My children have lost a lot of weight, hunger wakes them up at night,” said Nour Barbakh, a displaced person from Khan Younes waiting in line to wait for food.
“More than 200 terrorists” arrested
In Deir el-Balah (center), a strike on Saturday left people dead and many injured, including several women and children, AFP noted. My “house was hit by a drone missile,” said Abed al-Khawalda, who lost his sister in the bombing. It “collapsed on top of the people who were there.” On Saturday, the Israeli army claimed to have captured “more than 200 terrorists” during the week, and “more than 700” since the start of the conflict. She also assured that a strike carried out on Rafah on Friday, which killed four members of the same family including a little girl according to Hamas, targeted an official of the Palestinian movement responsible for the supply of weapons.
For its part, the Hamas Ministry of Health accused Israeli forces of having this week “committed several atrocious massacres” in the region of Jabaliya and in that of Tal Al-Zaatar”, and of having notably “executed dozens of citizens in the streets.” Asked by AFP, the army did not specifically respond to the accusations of executions but assured that its strikes “against military targets are in accordance with international law”.
Uncertainties for five hostages
Egyptian and Qatari mediators are still trying to reach a compromise between the warring parties on a new truce that would allow the entry of more aid into Gaza as well as the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners imprisoned by Israel. At the end of November, a one-week truce allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners as well as the entry into Gaza of humanitarian aid convoys. However, both camps remain intransigent.
Hamas demands a stop to the fighting before any negotiations on the hostages. Israel is open to the idea of a truce but rules out any ceasefire before the “elimination” of the Islamist movement. On Saturday, Hamas’ military wing said it had “lost contact” with fighters guarding five Israeli hostages. They were probably “killed during an Israeli strike”, she estimated. No confirmation could be obtained from Israel.
Regional tensions
Beyond Gaza, the risk of a regional conflagration persists. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been threatening to slow down world trade by attacking maritime traffic in the Red Sea for several weeks, saying they are acting in solidarity with Hamas. A chemical tanker was hit off the coast of India on Saturday by an “attack drone fired from Iran”, and two oil tankers and a US destroyer sailing in the Red Sea were also targeted by drones launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to the US military.
The Pentagon explains that Iran, an ally of the Yemeni rebels and Hamas, provides information to the Houthis to plan their attacks, accusations which have been rejected by Tehran.