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War between Hamas and Israel
The south of the Gaza Strip, where there are large numbers of displaced Palestinians, but also the center of the besieged area, continues to be the scene of heavy bombardment day and night.
Published on December 30, 2023 8:42 p.m
Reading time: 3 minutes
Palestinians inspect the damage caused by Israeli attacks in the Zawayda area of the central Gaza Strip, December 30, 2023. (AFP)
The war between Israel and Hamas, which entered its 13th week on Saturday, December 30, continues without interruption in the Gaza Strip, to the great despair of an “exhausted” Palestinian population in the face of incessant bombardments by the Israeli army and in the Gaza Strip Gaza Strip There is no concrete prospect of a ceasefire. Here's what to remember from the 85th day of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Gaza Strip population “exhausted”
According to the United Nations, since the war began on October 7, 85% of the approximately 2.4 million residents across the Gaza Strip have been forced to leave their homes and are in a terrible humanitarian situation. Oum Louay Abou Khater, who fled his home in Khan Younès in the south of the territory, told AFP on Saturday his general feeling of dejection. “The war is enough! “We are completely exhausted,” shouts the 49-year-old.
Every day a few dozen aid trucks enter the area completely besieged by Israel via the Rafah border post with Egypt, a clearly insufficient number. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the growing risk of the spread of infectious diseases. According to the report released on Saturday by the Hamas Health Ministry, which has been in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, 21,672 people, mostly women, teenagers and children, were killed. No local source can support this assessment.
This devastating war was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil. Around 250 people were kidnapped, including 129 still held hostage in Gaza, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. In response, Israel has vowed to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement and is relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip. According to the army, ground operations have also been carried out there since the end of October, killing 170 Israeli soldiers.
Hamas tunnel destroyed
While the north of the Gaza Strip was largely destroyed in the first weeks of the war, the Israeli army published images on Saturday of Hamas tunnels it had discovered, which it said were equipped with electricity, ventilation and sanitation systems, and rest and prayer rooms. In a press release, it claimed to have blown up this underground network on Friday. Aerial photos show the impressive force of the explosion.
Talks about a peace plan continue
International mediators, who managed to broker a week-long ceasefire in late November that allowed the release of more than 100 hostages and the entry of limited aid into Gaza, are continuing their efforts.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Friday to convey “the reaction of the Palestinian factions” to a three-stage Egyptian peace plan. That response will come “in the coming days,” the deputy secretary general of Islamic Jihad, an armed group fighting alongside Hamas, said in a news release Saturday. Israel has not officially responded to Cairo's plan. Israel's prime minister told the families of the hostages on Thursday that the country was “in contact” with Egyptian mediators.
The war reignited tensions in the region
A Palestinian was killed in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Israeli army previously announced that it had “neutralized” a person suspected of a car-ramming attack at a military checkpoint near Hebron.
Israel's northern border with Lebanon is the scene of daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. The Iran-aligned Lebanese movement that supports Hamas said on Saturday that four of its fighters had been killed “on the way to Jerusalem,” a term the group uses to describe its members who have fallen since October 7. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), 19 fighters allied with Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, were killed in “probably Israeli” airstrikes in neighboring eastern Syria on Saturday.