UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – The Israeli Prime Minister announced an intensification of the fight against Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
Despite international calls to silence the guns, there is no respite in sight after more than two months of war against the Palestinian Islamist movement, which launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7. Le Figaro takes stock.
Gaza must be “demilitarized” and “deradicalized,” says Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu estimated that peace could only be achieved if Gaza was “demilitarized” and “deradicalized” after announcing an intensification of fighting against Hamas in the Palestinian territory. “We are not stopping, (…) we are intensifying the fighting in the coming days.” “It will be a long war,” emphasized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after his visit to Gaza.
In the Wall Street Journal columns, he also put forward three “prerequisites” for peace. “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized and Palestinian society must be deradicalized,” he explained in his column. To prevent weapons smuggling, “the establishment of a temporary security zone on the edge of the Gaza Strip will be necessary,” said Netanyahu, who ruled out entrusting the future administration of this territory to the Palestinian Authority, which he accused of “financing and glorifying terrorism” in the Gaza Strip accuses West Bank. “In the near future, Israel must retain primary responsibility for security in Gaza,” from which it unilaterally withdrew in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, he reiterated.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, Mr. Netanyahu also agreed to encourage the voluntary emigration of Palestinians from Gaza. “Our problem is not whether we should approve an exit, but whether there will be countries willing to accept an exit,” he told elected representatives of his Likud party, according to Haaretz.
A deadly weekend
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, at least 70 people were killed in a strike on Sunday evening in the al-Maghazi refugee camp (center). The Israeli army said it was doing its best to spare civilians and said it was “reviewing the incident.”
“They tell us to go to the south, to the north, to the center: these are just lies and deceptions, there is no safe zone in the Gaza Strip,” Abou Rami Abou Al-Ais told AFP residents of this camp indignantly. “Children are reduced to remnants. What is the guilt of these innocent children? At the nearby Deir el-Balah hospital, dozens of bodies were wrapped in body bags after the attack, AFP reported.
Benjamin Netanyahu heckled
Pressure continues to be exerted in Israel for the release of the hostages. On Monday, during a speech in parliament, Mr Netanyahu was heckled by families shouting “Now, now!” “What if it was your son?”, “80 days, every minute is hell,” read the banners these relatives held up. There was also a demonstration in Tel Aviv.
Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, has called for an end to the fighting before starting new negotiations for the release of hostages. Despite the intransigence of both camps, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are still trying to negotiate a new ceasefire after a week in late November allowed the release of 105 hostages against 240 Palestinian prisoners and the entry of significant aid into the Gaza Strip.
Also read: “They remain dignified, their heads held high, their hearts pure”: the statement of a relative of Hamas hostages after their release
US attacks in Iraq
Beyond Gaza, the specter of a widening conflict still looms, with almost daily and sometimes deadly exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the Lebanon-Israel border, as well as attacks by rebels. Yemen's Houthis attack ships in the Red and Arabian Seas. Since the war between Hamas and Israel began, attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria attributed to pro-Iranian groups have increased.
The United States announced on Monday that it had struck three sites in Iraq used by Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and other Iranian-backed forces, particularly in response to an attack on American personnel in northern Erbil Iraq. Iran also accused Israel of killing one of its senior officers in a rocket attack in Syria on Monday. The Revolutionary Guards identified this Brigadier General Razi Moussavi as the “logistical manager of the axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes in particular Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.
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