On the 13th day of a deadly war, humanitarian aid long awaited by Palestinians stranded in the Gaza Strip is expected to arrive there on Friday.
As the Israeli army continues to shell the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, intensive diplomatic activity continues to try to end the conflict. During a visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the president of Israel received the green light for humanitarian aid to flow through Egypt. Trucks are waiting at the border and could begin entering the Gaza Strip on Friday. On the war front, the Israeli army said it carried out hundreds of airstrikes in 24 hours. Here’s what to remember from Thursday, October 19th.
Humanitarian aid is expected on Friday
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid have been parked at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip for several days. The American and Egyptian presidents “agreed to deliver humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip in a sustainable manner through the Rafah crossing,” Cairo reported Thursday. That aid is not expected to arrive before Friday as work still needs to be done on the road destroyed by Israeli bombings.
Joe Biden claimed he had obtained from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi “to allow up to 20 trucks to cross,” a grossly inadequate number according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Cargo planes full of relief supplies, including food and medicine, also landed at Egypt’s Al-Arich airport on Thursday. In Cairo, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “quick and unhindered humanitarian access” and called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”. “We need food, water, fuel and medicine immediately,” he added.
Entire neighborhoods have been leveled and left without water, food and electricity, and more than a million people have been displaced following Israel’s October 9 siege of the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of Israeli air strikes were carried out within 24 hours
On Thursday, the Israeli army said it had carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Hamas infrastructure in 24 hours. In Khan Younes, eight children from the same family died in night bombings. The Hamas government’s Interior Ministry also reported deaths and injuries among displaced people seeking shelter in the compound of a church in Gaza that was hit by an Israeli raid.
At least 3,785 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in Israeli retaliatory strikes. This is according to a count by the Hamas Ministry of Health on Thursday, in which at least 1,524 children were killed.
The number of victims of the deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital continues to be debated. That shooting, attributed to Israel by Hamas, left at least 471 dead, according to the Palestinian territory’s health ministry. “Where are all the bodies?” asked an Israeli army spokesman, disputing the number given by Hamas. Israel claimed to have “evidence” that Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian movement, was responsible for the attack on the hospital.
The number of French victims rose to 28 dead
The number of French victims killed in Hamas attacks against Israel has continued to rise, with a total of 28 dead, the Foreign Ministry spokesman announced on Thursday. “France regrets the tragic deaths of new French nationals, which brings the number of French victims to 28,” said Anne-Claire Legendre. She specified that “seven compatriots are still missing,” some of whom are Hamas hostages.
When asked about the number of hostages, the spokesman declined to comment for security reasons and “out of respect for the families.”
The Israeli army said Thursday that at least 203 hostages were being held by Hamas, Israelis, foreigners and dual nationals. Hamas, for its part, demanded “200 to 250 hostages” on Monday evening and reported that 22 hostages had been killed in Israeli army airstrikes since the response began.
Ban on pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris lifted
The Paris Administrative Court has lifted the prefectural ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration that had already taken place on the Place de la République in Paris. “Respect for freedom of demonstration and expression, which have the character of fundamental freedoms (…), must be reconciled with the constitutional requirement to preserve public order,” the court ruled. “However, it does not appear from the instruction and in particular from the note of the special services set up for the present demonstration that the planned gathering would pose a particular risk of violence against other groups or law enforcement agencies,” he argues.
This decision came after the State Council on Wednesday rejected the Interior Minister’s telegram calling for a systematic ban on these gatherings. The institution considered that pro-Palestinian demonstrations could not be systematically banned and that it was solely for the prefects to assess “on a case-by-case basis” whether there was a risk of disruption to public order on the ground.
Emmanuel Macron points to the risk of a “split” in France with an intensification of the conflict
While Gérald Darmanin has made shocking statements at a rapid pace since the October 7 attack, the danger of a split and an expansion of the war between Hamas and Israel is on everyone’s lips. “We are a country, if we manage this situation badly it could be an element of division,” Emmanuel Macron admitted to AFP on Thursday. “We have the largest Jewish community (…) in Europe, we have many young people who come from the Middle East, the Maghreb or Africa. We also have many young people who are of Muslim faith,” noted the head of state.