Israel responds with a “vast strike” on Hezbollah targets – L’Express

The strike, both air and artillery, targeted, according to a press release from the Israeli army, “infrastructure and headquarters of fighters as well as infrastructure belonging to the leadership of the Shiite terrorist movement.” Hezbollah claims to have attacked 19 Israeli positions simultaneously. In a statement, the pro-Iranian party indicated that at 1:30 p.m. GMT (2:30 p.m. in France) its fighters had attacked “at the same time 19 Zionist military positions and sites using guided missiles, shells” and other weapons , and at the same time sent drones to attack “the occupied Chebaa farms”.

Three Palestinians and an Israeli were killed Thursday in violence in several areas of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Israeli emergency services.

The West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, has been plagued by an intensification of violence since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the bloody attack on October 7 by the Islamist movement on Israeli soil.

In El-Bireh, Ramallah’s twin city, two Palestinians aged 14 and 24 were killed and two others injured when the Israeli army opened fire during clashes that broke out during an incursion it was carrying out to carry out arrests, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said. In Qalqilya, further north, a 19-year-old Palestinian was killed by fire from Israeli soldiers, and two others were injured, during an army incursion, according to this source. No comment on the incursions could immediately be obtained from the army.

Separately, an Israeli was killed near the settlement of Einav, in the northern West Bank, after his car came under Palestinian fire, according to the Israeli army and Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency service. He is reservist Elhanan Klein, 29, a resident of the Einav settlement who was returning home, according to advice from Shomron, the name given by Israel to the north of the West Bank.

Egypt will help evacuate “around 7,000” foreigners and dual nationals from the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday, the day after the first evacuations from the south of the Palestinian territory.

In a meeting with foreign diplomats, Deputy Foreign Minister Ismail Khairat said Egypt was preparing “to facilitate the reception and evacuation of foreign citizens from Gaza through the Gaza crossing.” Rafah”, adding that there were “around 7,000” and represented “more than 60” nationalities.

A group of foreigners and dual nationals, who left the south of the Gaza Strip on Thursday aboard two buses, arrived in Egypt via the Rafah crossing, an Egyptian official told AFP. Earlier in the day, this group of “100 travelers holding foreign nationalities” was able to leave Gaza for Egypt, according to a spokesperson for the border post on the Palestinian side, a number which was not confirmed by the Egyptian official. Four hundred people are expected to cross the border on Thursday, according to Egyptian officials, the day after the first evacuations.

Will the United States limit itself to financial support for Israel? Or will they adopt the staggering package wanted by President Biden with funds for Gaza, Ukraine and partners in Asia? The American Congress begins Thursday to discuss this thorny issue. The institution, finally functional with its new “speaker”, is split in two on the type of support to provide to its allies abroad.

Democrats and Republicans alike want to immediately adopt military aid for Israel, a long-time partner of the United States, at war with Hamas. However, things get complicated when it comes to Ukraine. Washington is the largest provider of military aid to kyiv, having committed tens of billions of dollars since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Joe Biden, questioned on Wednesday during a political meeting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, said he was in favor of a “pause” in order to allow the “prisoners” to leave the enclave. The American president, running for a second term, was speaking at a fundraising event when a member of the audience called out to him: “As your rabbi, I ask you to call for a cease -fire immediately.”

“I think we need a break. A break means giving time to get the prisoners out,” said the 80-year-old Democrat. The White House, questioned about these comments, subsequently clarified that by “prisoners”, the president was referring to hostages from the Islamist movement Hamas.

The successive Israeli bombings on the largest refugee camp in Gaza in response to the attacks of October 7 are considered possible “war crimes”, according to the UN. They caused “dozens” of deaths according to the Hamas terrorist movement, a toll that no independent source is able to verify. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by the strikes on the Jabaliya camp where 116,000 refugees live in the northern Gaza Strip.

AFP journalists were able to see significant destruction at the scene, where survivors were moving through the rubble in search of survivors. Rescue workers said “entire families” had been wiped out. The Israeli army claimed to have eliminated the head of Hamas’s anti-tank unit, Muhammad Atzar, in its strikes on the camp on Wednesday.

More than 20,000 injured people are still in the Gaza Strip, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), despite the first evacuations on Wednesday to Egypt of Palestinian patients and foreigners or dual nationals. “More than 20,000 injured people remain in Gaza, with limited access to health care due to the siege and constant bombardments” by the Israeli army, the humanitarian organization said in a statement on Wednesday. MSF, which specified that its 22 international staff were able to leave Gaza via the Rafah border crossing, requested that a larger number of residents of the Palestinian territory be able to be evacuated.

Saudi Arabia announced Thursday the launch of a fundraising campaign for Palestinians in Gaza, on the 27th day of the war between Israel and Hamas.

King Salman donated 30 million riyals (about $8 million) while the country’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, donated 20 million riyals, according to public broadcaster Al-Ekhbariya.