FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
JERUSALEM – The Rafah Gate remains closed, now a narrow alley between concrete blocks built by the Egyptians. In the last few days, a thousand Palestinians with foreign passports, including Italian ones, and the most seriously injured have passed through here. You can’t pass here if the Hamas bosses don’t put your name on the list, if it doesn’t have the consent of the Israelis and the Arab soldiers guarding the crossing written next to it. The mechanism was blocked yesterday, it is not a question of diplomacy, it is war.
The exodus stops
Tsahal forces have taken control of the northern part of the road, which runs parallel to the Mediterranean, and have set up a checkpoint. They encourage the civilian population to move to the more protected area, down towards Egypt. Officials explain: Fundamentalist paramilitaries attacked teams trying to ensure the security of the route. We return directly to the problem of who gets through the border gap and who can find refuge in the south: an American official explains to the New York Times newspaper that the postponement of the evacuation of the wounded in recent days is due to the fact that the Hamas added its men to the lists.
Now he would try the same move and prevent the passage from opening if there is no guarantee of ambulances. The Israelis say they are being used by terrorists. There is no way out and no one can leave the Strip for now. 730 were ready and stuck yesterday, others are waiting.
The raid versions
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, said he was “appalled by the bombing of the aid convoy” on Friday afternoon. Hamas men condemn an Israeli attack – 15 people were killed – but announce that only one vehicle was attacked.
Army spokespersons counter that the vehicle was used by paramilitaries. The dilemma remains as to how the white vehicles with the red crescent can move safely to reach the wounded and try to save those left behind under the rubble: the death toll is over 9,500, mostly civilians.
The World Health Organization says the conflict primarily affects women and minors, accounting for 67 percent of victims. During the long clashes in 2008-2009 and 2014, the figure was 34 percent, according to Palestinian sources. A bomb attack killed 20 people in a school where hundreds of millions of internally displaced people had crowded together.
The humanitarian crisis will be catastrophic, warn the United Nations: In the south, 4 out of 20 bread ovens are still in operation, the queues for take-away flatbread last hours, on average there are two pieces to eat each, the flour only comes from UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees.
Siege of the Hideout
Israeli mechanized infantry would have advanced south of Gaza City to complete the encirclement of the main center, where intelligence has identified the jihadists’ underground headquarters; 200 of the terrorists involved in the October 7 massacres would also be hiding there. 1,440 dead, mostly civilians, over 240 hostages in the Gaza Strip, 28 soldiers have died in the offensive so far.
Fighting is said to have occurred in the area of Tel al-Hawa, this is where the Preventive Security Command was once located, and in these cells, Mohammed Dahlan cut off the beards dedicated to the Islamists as a sign of contempt, a symbol of Fatah’s power in Gaza, the palace of which was devastated by the Hamas coup in 2007. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip – totaling 9,200 in the 29 days of war, including mortar shells – was intercepted before it hit Eilat on the Red Sea.
The answer to Nasrallah
As the war ping-pong with Hezbollah continues in the north: “We are not interested in opening another front,” says Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, “but if the organization makes a mistake, it will decide whether to condemn Lebanon .” He assures: “We will find and kill Yahya Sinwar (the leader of Hamas). I promise the people of Gaza: if you kill him, the war will end sooner.”