merciless fighting in Khan Younes, Israeli and Palestinian diplomacy received at the EU

4 mins

What you must remember :

■ Israel continues an increasingly intense offensive in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israelis also continue to carry out operations in Occupied West Bank and the situation is explosive at the border of Lebanon.

■ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed on Sunday its firm opposition to “Palestinian sovereignty” in Gaza. He sends a dismissal to his American ally, as well as to Hamas.

■ While‘European Union sends contradictory signals regarding the situation in the Middle East, by sanctioning Hamas also by launching accusations against Israel, a meeting is to be held this Monday in Brussels with European foreign ministers and six of their counterparts from the region.

■ According to a report announced this Sunday, January 21 by the Hamas Ministry of Health, 25,105 people were killed in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7. The majority of the dead are women, adolescents and children. There are more than 62,681 injured.

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5:25 a.m.: Palestinians arrested in raids near Hebron

Local media report to Al Jazeera that Israeli forces arrested six Palestinians during raids in Al-Fawwar camp and the town of Sa’ir, near the city of Hebron. Israeli forces also arrested a man during the assault on the Shuafat camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem. Raids also took place in several locations in the occupied West Bank.

5:15 a.m.: The heads of Israeli and Palestinian diplomacy received in Brussels

European foreign ministers will receive their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts separately in Brussels this Monday to listen to them and try to convince them of the need for a political solution in Gaza and the West Bank. The head of Israeli diplomacy Israel Katz will meet EU ministers in the morning, then it will be the turn of Palestinian Authority minister Riyad al-Maliki in the afternoon. No meeting between the two men is planned. No decision expected, but for the Europeans, the simple presence of the two men on the same day in Brussels is already a “ strong symbol ”, in the words of a diplomat. The statements of the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, who on Friday 19 accused Israel of having “financed” Hamas in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority of Fatah, could however be a source of tension. “ We believe that a two-state solution must be imposed from outside to bring peace “, he insisted from Valladolid in Spain. The heads of EU diplomacy will also meet, during a working lunch, their Egyptian counterparts Sameh Choukry, Saudi Faisal bin Farhane and Jordanian Ayman Safadi, as well as the secretary-general of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit. So many countries and organizations that could play an important role – both economic and political – after the war. EU countries are concerned about the number of civilian casualties since the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas against Israel on October 7, and have repeatedly called for humanitarian truces. But, very divided, they have so far failed to go beyond, and agree on a call for a ceasefire, to which certain countries, such as Germany, are opposed. , emphasizing Israel’s right to defend itself.

5:00 a.m.: Map update on the situation on the 107th day of war

5:00 a.m.: Fierce fighting between soldiers and Hamas fighters in Khan Younes

The Israeli army bombed Khan Younes this Monday, the epicenter of the clashes in southern Gaza. During the night from Sunday to Monday, witnesses reported deadly Israeli strikes towards Khan Younes, and even fierce fighting between soldiers and Hamas fighters. Outside Gaza, in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, anti-rocket sirens sounded overnight, according to the Israeli army.

► Find our live from Sunday January 21 here