12/21/2023 6:20
Israel ordered a new evacuation of a large part of the capital in the south of the Gaza Strip, while efforts continued this Thursday (21) for a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, where the death toll in the war exceeded 20,000 by the Islamist Hamas movement.
The Israeli army ordered the “immediate evacuation” of an area covering almost 20% of the city of Khan Yunis, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
The Gaza Strip is without electricity due to the total blockade imposed by Israel. Many residents rely solely on batteryoperated radios and the information circulating among the population to obtain information.
According to OCHA, this area had a population of over 111,000 before fighting began.
The area includes 32 emergency shelters with more than 141,000 internally displaced people, most of them people who had to flee the Palestinian territory's north, the United Nations added.
The Israeli army announced on Monday the intensification of operations in Khan Yunis.
According to an AFP report based on information released by the country's authorities, Israel has vowed to destroy the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, following the Islamist group's attacks in southern Israel on October 7, in which almost 1,140 people were killed.
Israel says nearly 250 people have been kidnapped by the Islamist group and 129 remain hostage in Gaza.
The Hamas government said on Wednesday that Israeli military operations in the area have claimed 20,000 lives since the start of the war, including at least 8,000 minors and 6,200 women.
U.N. UnderSecretaryGeneral for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths called the figure “tragic and shameful.”
In the Israelibombed city of Rafah (south), residents are hoping for ceasefire negotiations.
“I want a complete ceasefire, an end to the death and suffering. It’s more than 75 days,” said Kassem Shurrab, 25 years old.
Dialogue for a ceasefire
The possibility of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages increased this week with the visit of the Islamist movement's leader Ismail Haniyeh to Egypt and negotiations in Europe.
Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a meeting with Egyptian intelligence director Abas Kamel.
A Hamas source told AFP that “a full ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army are conditions for serious negotiations on the exchange of hostages for prisoners.”
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there would be no ceasefire until Hamas was “eliminated”.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, in turn admitted that “there are no expectations on this issue, but we are pushing for an agreement.”
David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, said he had a “positive meeting” in Warsaw this week with CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Qatar, with support from Egypt and the United States, acted as a facilitator of the weeklong ceasefire in late November that allowed the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Tunnel network
Israel said its troops found a network of tunnels used by Hamas leaders, including the movement's Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar.
The army released images of the “large tunnel network” in Gaza City connecting hideouts and houses.
In addition, close combat and more than 300 artillery shellings were reported in the last 24 hours. Israel announced the deaths of three soldiers on Wednesday, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 137 since ground operations began.
Hamas' health ministry reported that at least 12 people were killed in Israeli attacks on homes and mosques and that 30 died in bombings east of Khan Yunis.
“Enough. We have lost everything and we can't take it anymore,” said Samar Abu Luli, a resident of Rafah, after an Israeli bombing in the Al Shabura neighborhood.
Stagnation at the UN
The UN Security Council is expected to try again this Thursday to pass a resolution to end the fighting after failing to secure support from the United States.
Israel rejected the term “ceasefire” and for this reason the US delegation used its veto power to stop resolutions twice since the start of the war.
According to a version consulted by AFP, the UAE is defending a draft resolution on the conflict that has been watered down to ensure support.
The proposal calls for an “urgent cessation of hostilities to enable safe and unhindered humanitarian access to achieve a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
Israel allowed trucks to pass through the Rafah checkpoint on the border with Egypt and also approved the shipment of aid through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint this week.
The war has sparked fears of regional escalation, with incidents on the border with Lebanon and rockets from Iranbacked Houthi rebels in Yemen targeting cargo ships in the Red Sea.
Israel said on Wednesday that it had attacked an “operational command center” of the Iranbacked Hezbollah group and fired on militants heading towards the border with Lebanon.
An elderly woman died and her husband was injured in an Israeli bombing of the border town of Marun al Ras in southern Lebanon, from where Hezbollah launched several night raids against Israel, the official press reported.
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