The bloodiest attack in Israel's history, the deadliest operation in Gaza's history: Israelis and Palestinians end a dark year on Sunday with no prospect of an end to the fighting and their world afterwards.
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In these final hours of 2023, there is no respite from air strikes, artillery fire and ground fighting in Gaza, much to the dismay of an “exhausted” Palestinian population.
“We hoped that 2024 would come under better auspices and that we could celebrate the New Year at home with the family. But the situation is difficult,” says Mahmoud Abou Shahma, 33, in a camp for displaced people in Rafah, on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip.
“We hope for the end of the war and that we can return home to live peacefully,” added the man from Khan Younes, the southern Gaza capital and the new epicenter of the war between Israel and Hamas.
In recent weeks, the Israeli army has been stationed in the north of the Gaza Strip, then towards Khan Younes (south) and recently in the camps in the center of this territory, where 1.9 million residents (85% of the population) are leaving their homes for this reason had to go to the fighting.
This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the growing threat of the spread of infectious diseases.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, 21,672 people, mostly women, teenagers and children, have been killed since the war began on October 7, by far the highest death toll of any Israeli operation.
This devastating war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil that killed around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In response, Israel has vowed to “destroy” the Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip and has seized the area where 129 of the approximately 250 hostages taken by Hamas and its local allies during the Gaza attack on March 7 October 19th, 2010, the prisoners were relentlessly shot at.
“Bring her back”
On Saturday evening, more than a thousand people demonstrated in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages and their relatives, chanting “Bring them home!”
“I try to be optimistic. I'm really trying to be optimistic. I hope that there will be further agreement, even partial, or that information will be made public. I try to hold on to every shred of hope,” said 45-year-old Nir Shafran at the scene.
Gal Gilboa-Dalal remains traumatized until October 7th. He had gone with his brother Guy to a rave party that was stormed by Hamas commandos.
“I was with him and he was taken away when I wasn't with him. I went there with him and came back without him and it's like time has stood still since then. I'm waiting for him to come back. “Every day is hell,” he said on the sidelines of the demonstration in Tel Aviv.
“Several months”
International mediators led by Qatar and Egypt 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. And they are currently continuing their efforts for a new lull in fighting.
According to the American Axios and Israeli Ynet sites, Qatar has informed Israel that Hamas has accepted the principle of resuming talks with a view to releasing more than 40 hostages in exchange for a ceasefire that can be extended for up to a month could.
A delegation from Hamas, a movement classified as terrorist by the EU, the US and especially Israel, arrived in Cairo on Friday to convey “the reaction of the Palestinian factions” to an Egyptian plan that includes the release of hostages and a pause provided for the clashes.
That response will come “in the coming days,” Muhammad al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of Islamic Jihad, an armed group fighting alongside Hamas, said in a statement.
When questioned on Saturday evening, Benjamin Netanyahu continued to be evasive about these negotiations behind the scenes.
“Hamas has given a whole series of ultimatums that we have rejected (…) We see a change (but) I don't want to raise expectations,” he explained, assuring that “the war will continue for many more months.”
The multiplication of fronts
The war in Gaza has reignited tensions on the border between Lebanon and Israel, with almost daily exchanges of fire since October 7 between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned movement that supports Hamas.
Israel said it stepped up strikes against Hezbollah “positions” on Saturday, announcing the deaths of four of its fighters “on the way to Jerusalem,” a term used to describe its members who have fallen since October 7.
“We are striking hard against Hezbollah (…) and if Hezbollah wants to expand the war, it will take blows like never before, and that also applies to Iran,” warned Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening.
At least 23 Iran-linked fighters – five Syrians, four members of Lebanon's Hezbollah, six Iraqis and eight Iranians – were killed in “probably Israeli” raids in eastern Syria on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
In the Red Sea, an American destroyer shot down two anti-ship missiles fired from an area controlled by the Houthi rebels, also backed by Iran, threatening traffic on this strategic sea route in “support” of Gaza.