UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – As fighting continues on Khan Younes' side, the UN is gathering the main donors of the Palestinian Refugee Agency, whose 12 employees are accused of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.
Fierce fighting is raging this Tuesday in Khan Younes, the southern Gaza capital, at a time when the UN chief is working behind the scenes to persuade embittered donors to maintain their support for the country amid a crisis. Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA). Le Figaro takes stock.
IDF develops in Khan Younes
During the night, witnesses reported Israeli attacks in several areas in the south and central Gaza Strip, as well as artillery fire from the Palestinian Red Crescent around the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younes.
The Hamas Health Ministry counted at least 128 deaths from Monday evening to Tuesday morning, including “dozens” in Khan Younes, where the situation in key local hospitals remains critical. “In recent weeks, our operations have focused on Khan Younes (…), the Hamas capital in the southern Gaza Strip,” said Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, reporting that “more than 2,000 terrorists have been eliminated” in that city. had been. “We operate on land and underground at the same time. “This is a new way of operating that involves the use of cutting-edge technologies, some of which are being used for the first time,” he explained, without elaborating on these technologies.
Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in a West Bank hospital
According to consistent sources, three Palestinians portrayed by Israel as “terrorists” were killed on Tuesday in a hospital in Jenin during a targeted operation by Israeli forces in that northern occupied West Bank city. An AFP journalist saw the bodies of the three men in hospital, with relatives mourning them. According to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry, in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups, “three martyrs were shot dead by occupying forces at Avicenna Hospital.” In a joint statement, the army, internal security and Israeli police said that as part of a joint operation they had captured Mohammad Jalamnah, a “Hamas terrorist” who was “hiding” in that hospital, as well as “two other terrorists.” “neutralized”. , Bassel and Ayman Ghazawi. “A group of plainclothes members of the occupation forces entered (the hospital) and murdered (the three men) with weapons equipped with silencers,” Dr. Naji Nazzal, medical director of the facility, told AFP.
“The operation took place in the rehabilitation department on the third floor, where Bassel Ghazawi had been treated since October 25,” the doctor said, adding that the man was “unable to move at all.” According to the Israeli Defense Forces statement, Jalamnah “maintained contacts with Hamas command posts abroad some time ago and was injured while trying to instigate a car bombing.” He is also said to have “supplied weapons and ammunition to terrorists to carry out attacks” and “planned a raid inspired by the October 7 massacres.” “Jalamnah planned an attack at very short notice and used the hospital as a hideout. He was therefore neutralized,” the Israeli security forces said in a statement. According to them, “a large number” of Palestinians wanted by Israel are “hiding in hospitals” and using them “as bases for planning terrorist activities and carrying out attacks.”
The Israeli army is “preparing for what comes next” on the border with Lebanon.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant noted Monday evening that the soldiers stationed in Gaza are “going to the north (of the country) and preparing for what comes next,” a reference to the Israel-Lebanese border, the scene of the exchange with Hezbollah, which was supported by Iran and Hamas allies. And according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), Israeli missiles targeted “a base of Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards,” the Iranian regime's ideological army, overnight, killing eight people in the suburbs of Damascus.
UNRWA donors meeting this Tuesday in New York
These incidents coincide, without direct connection, with a crisis at the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), where 12 of its 30,000 regional staff are accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack. Shortly after the allegations against UNRWA, twelve donor countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany and now New Zealand, stopped funding the organization until these allegations were resolved.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose country is UNRWA's first donor, said on Monday it was “imperative” that the organization investigate these allegations and described its work in Gaza as “absolutely necessary”. The suspensions were sharply criticized by Palestinians and NGOs, while Israel Katz, Israel's No. 1 diplomat, canceled a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, whose resignation he called for. Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres is gathering the organization's main donors this Tuesday in New York to try to maintain its funding, especially since the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is critical and there is a risk of famine.
“Their message to donors, especially those who have suspended their contributions, is to at least ensure the continuity of the agency's operations,” its spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday evening. Without this funding, “the outlook for UNRWA and the millions of people it helps (…) would be very bleak,” he added.
The negotiations continue
On the sidelines of the fighting in Gaza and the Unrwa controversy, negotiations for a new ceasefire after the one in November continue behind the scenes under the auspices of Qatar, Egypt and the United States. A framework for a ceasefire accompanied by the release of new hostages will be conveyed to Hamas, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani announced in Washington on Monday, reporting “remarkable progress” during a meeting between CIA and Director William Burns in Paris on Sunday and senior Egyptian, Israeli and Qatari officials.
The proposed deal would include a two-month ceasefire and the release of all hostages held against Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, according to the New York Times. “Very important and productive work has been done,” US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken said on Monday evening, adding: “There is real hope for the future.”
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