FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BEIRUT – The blue sign says “United Nations Distribution Center,” no free looting, but after 22 days of bombing, hunger and thirst, Gaza’s Palestinians are breaking the bars and grabbing whatever they can carry. The cameras arrive just as the gates of the Deir el Balah food camp in the center of Gaza City have already been breached. Compared to the dust and despair outside, the inside of the shed looks like Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders. There is food to the ceiling. Some of the trucks arriving from Egypt were being unloaded.
About 80 of them have passed since the start of the war, when the 2.3 million Palestinians imprisoned in the Gaza Strip consumed a hundred of them a day. People saw the few trucks arriving and couldn’t resist. It happened in the city center and also in three other United Nations depots, a paradox because the UN of lexical balances, the UN of unheard calls, the UN defeated by the diplomacy of crossed vetoes, is still respected in Gaza.
The rubble of the city
The few images that are filtered from the strip show a hellish landscape, entire blocks of houses razed to the ground, smoking skeletons of buildings, piles of rubble instead of streets and buildings. Yesterday, three towers of at least 14 floors were bombed, possibly with helicopter missiles or drones. The illegal nature of the veranda balconies gave these buildings a familiar look, but the long cell phone antennas on the terraces gave them a somewhat less familiar look. How many people lived in these apartment buildings? According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 1,800 people lie under the rubble of Israeli bombs that no one can save. Deaths reported in Gaza number in the hundreds per day. The total number exceeds 8,000, of which 3,000 are minors. The translation is brutal: a Palestinian child is killed every 10 minutes.
The warning in the hospital
Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza received two calls from Israel. “You have to clean out.” There would be 12,000 civilians, including hospital patients and relatives. As in other cases, Tel Aviv claims Hamas is using them as human shields for its commandos hidden in the basement. But the people stay, the doctors, even those from international organizations. “A transfer would condemn the patients to death.” Yesterday a bomb fell 50 meters from the structure. Tomorrow who knows.
The difficulties of the USA
The perception of Israel’s revenge as excessive and too violent also becomes a political problem. American national security adviser Jake Sullivan tried to distance himself by repeating the same concept on various television channels yesterday. “We believe that at every moment and on every day of this military operation, the Israeli government must take all possible measures to distinguish between Hamas and terrorists, who are legitimate military targets, and civilians, who are not.” That is what we communicate at the highest levels.” And in fact, yesterday morning’s phone call between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the White House report focused on “international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians” on efforts to release the hostages, including including those with American passports, the “increase in humanitarian aid deliveries”. A different tone than the “unconditional” support in the first days after the bloody Hamas attack.
The offensive continues
Meanwhile, the offensive in Tel Aviv continues. The bombings are becoming more and more violent and the incursions into the Gaza Strip are becoming deeper and deeper. An IDF (Israeli Army) video showed the blue and white flag on a house on the coast of Gaza. “We will not stop until we have achieved victory,” says a voice from offstage. The clashes are now visible.
An Israeli unit was ambushed by Hamas militants emerging from a tunnel near Erez. The army said several terrorists were killed. Other armed Palestinians were killed by drones. According to Israel, one hundred and fifty “Hamas targets” were destroyed on Friday alone, while the number of hostages still in Hamas hands was again updated upwards: 239. The northern front between Israel and Lebanon is also coming to a head. One of 10,000 UNIFIL peacekeepers was injured by a mortar shell, while rockets fired from Lebanon set fire to an Israeli house in Kiryat Shmona. The claim lies with the Al-Fajr Forces (an offshoot of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood), not with the Shiites of Hezbollah.