The Israeli army continues its offensive on Rafah on Thursday despite criticism after having claimed the day before to have taken control of a strategic buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt located near Rafah, the new epicenter of its war against the Hamas.
Information to remember
⇒ West Bank: two Israeli soldiers killed
⇒ Macron calls on Abbas to “reform” the Palestinian Authority
⇒ Xi Jinping calls for an “expanded” peace conference
West Bank: two Israeli soldiers killed
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in a “vehicle attack” overnight near Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said early Thursday. The army reported Wednesday evening in a brief press release of a “vehicle attack” outside Nablus, a large city in the north of the West Bank surrounded by Israeli settlements.
Questioned by AFP, the army later indicated that “two Israeli citizens” had been killed, then specified that they were two 20-year-old soldiers, Eliya Hilel and Diego Shvisha Harsaj, members of the brigade Kfir, deployed in the occupied West Bank.
Macron calls on Abbas to “reform” the Palestinian Authority
Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called on the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas to “implement the essential reforms” with “the perspective of recognition of the State of Palestine”, reported the French presidency in a press release.
During a telephone call, the French president “marked France’s commitment to working to build with its European and Arab partners a common vision of peace which offers security guarantees for Palestinians and Israelis” and to “place the prospect of recognition of the State of Palestine in a useful dynamic”.
“In this perspective”, the French president “recalled France’s support for a reformed and strengthened Palestinian Authority, capable of exercising its responsibilities throughout the Palestinian Territories, including in the Strip of Gazafor the benefit of the Palestinians.
Xi Jinping calls for ‘broader’ peace conference
Chinese President Xi Jinping called Thursday for a “broader” peace conference to resolve the conflict in Gaza, during a forum bringing together Arab leaders and diplomats in Beijing. In this territory, “the war should not continue indefinitely. Justice should not be absent forever,” he said in a speech.
Xi Jinping also praised the “deep affinity” between China and Arab countries and called for strengthening their cooperation in energy, while Beijing is already a major customer for the region’s oil exporting countries.
Egyptian president calls to prevent any movement of Gazans
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi on Thursday called on the international community to prevent any displacement of Gazans “by force” during a China-Arab countries forum in Beijing.
“I call on the international community to immediately provide long-term humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, end the Israeli siege and cease any attempt to force Palestinians from their land,” the leader said. of the Egyptian state in a speech.
New demonstration in Paris against the war in Gaza
A total of 4,500 people, according to the police headquarters, gathered Wednesday evening in the center of Paris to protest against the Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip, for the third consecutive evening, noted AFP. The demonstrators, mostly young people, brandished Palestinian flags and chanted: “Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people”, “this is not a war, it is a genocide”, and “Israel is murdering the children of Palestine”. .