The conflict is exacerbating at all borders, as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its fourth month this Sunday, January 7. While France calls on Iran not to encourage its “axis of resistance”, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken began his new tour in the Middle East to ensure that the conflict “does not spread” . Israel, for its part, claims to have dismantled Hamas structures in the north of Gaza, and announces that it is concentrating on the south and center of the strip, housing refugee camps “crowded with terrorists” among the civilians.
Information to remember
⇒ Israel announces that it will concentrate its attacks on the center and south of Gaza, after having rid the north of Hamas
⇒ Benjamin Netanyahu assured Saturday that the war must not stop until its objectives are met
⇒ The American Antony Blinken continues his tour of the Middle East so that the conflict “does not spread”
Israeli army announces focus on center and south
On Saturday January 6, the Israeli army announced that it had “completed the dismantling of the Hamas military structure in the north of the Gaza Strip”. In this area, “there are still terrorists acting sporadically and without command,” said an Israeli army spokesperson. But operations are now focused “on dismantling Hamas in the center and south.”
In the center and south of the Gaza Strip “we are going to do it differently” than in the north, General Hagari declared, without elaborating on the method. “The refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip are crowded and full of terrorists,” he said, referring to those in Nusseirat, Al-Bureij, Al-Maghazi, and Deir el-Balah. In the south, the large urban area of ”Khan Younes has an underground city of tunnels with multiple ramifications. It takes time, there are no shortcuts in the fight against terrorism,” he added.
“The war must not stop,” says Netanyahu
The Israeli Prime Minister vowed on Saturday to continue until “complete victory” his war against Hamas, which entered its fourth month this Sunday, transforming Gaza into a “place of death” according to the UN and fueling fears of contagion in neighboring Lebanon. “The war must not stop until we have achieved” all the objectives, which are “to eliminate Hamas, recover the hostages and ensure that Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel,” he said. declared Benjamin Netanyahu in a press release.
Six dead in Israeli raid in West Bank
An Israeli raid left six people dead early Sunday in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed factions in the occupied West Bank, said the Health Ministry of the Palestinian Authority, which sits in the occupied West Bank. An Israeli officer was also killed, and three people were injured. “She was in a military vehicle which was hit by an explosive device,” Jordanian police said.
Blinken wants to ensure the conflict “does not spread”
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, on his way to a new tour of the Middle East, said on Saturday in Greece that he wanted to “ensure that the conflict does not spread”. “One of the real concerns is the border between Israel and Lebanon and we want to do everything possible to ensure that there is no escalation,” he said after the meeting. a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister in Crete, where he made a flying visit after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul.
“We want to make sure that countries that think the same way use their links, their influence, their relationships with some of the actors that could be involved to keep control of things, to ensure that the conflict does not spread “, said the senior American official. He cited in particular the “vital role” that Turkey can play in this regard.
After this brief stopover in Crete, Blinken arrived in Amman, Jordan, this Sunday morning, January 7, where he spoke with Foreign Minister Aymane Safadi. He stressed “the need to immediately end Israeli aggression, protect civilians in the Gaza Strip and ensure adequate and sustainable access to humanitarian and medical aid to all areas” of the Palestinian territory. His new Middle East tour is expected to continue in Israel, the occupied West Bank and other countries in the region.
Paris urges Iran to stop its destabilizing actions
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday to send “a very clear message: the risk of regional conflagration has never been so significant”, she said. “Iran and its cronies must immediately stop their destabilizing actions. No one would gain from an escalation,” she said in a message posted on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Iran is accused of playing an essential role in the turbulence in the Middle East. Tehran has established an “axis of resistance” hostile to Israel, its sworn enemy, relying on allied forces in the region, notably Hezbollah in Lebanon which fired around forty rockets towards a military base on Saturday, as well as armed groups in Iraq and Syria and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, responsible for multiple attacks on international boats in the Red Sea since the start of the war.
Catherine Colonna consults Middle East partners
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs previously announced that she had initiated a series of consultations with France’s allies in the Middle East. On Saturday, she announced on X that she had a conversation with her Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry. “Egypt and France are on the front line for humanitarian aid access to Gaza and the evacuation of the most seriously injured,” his message said.
She also spoke with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, “useful conversation” on three objectives: “release of all hostages, cessation of hostilities in Gaza, credible perspective for a Palestinian state”, he said on the same social network. According to a press release from the ministry, Catherine Colonna has discussed since the beginning of the week with Najib Mikati, Lebanese Prime Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs.