This Thursday (14), Israel intensified the bombing in the Gaza Strip, despite signs of impatience from the government of the United States, its main ally, which sent a senior White House official to Jerusalem.
The war, which was triggered by the attacks against Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, has already claimed thousands of lives.
According to Israeli authorities, almost 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas offensive, most of them civilians.
According to the Health Ministry of the Hamasruled Palestinian territory, the Israeli response claimed more than 18,600 lives, most of them women and minors.
According to the ministry, at least 19 people were killed in Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning.
In the West Bank, where violence has also increased since October 7, the Palestinian Authority reported that two people were killed in Israeli attacks on the town of Jenin.
US President Joe Biden, whose administration has provided billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, warned on Wednesday that the “indiscriminate bombing” of the Gaza Strip is undermining international support for the country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a government made up of ultraOrthodox and farright parties, responded: “We will continue to the end.” There is no doubt. I say this with great pain, but also in the face of international pressure. Nothing will stop us. We will continue until the end, until victory.”
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen stressed that the war against Hamas would continue “with or without international support.”
Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with Netanyahu and his war cabinet in Jerusalem this Thursday.
Before the trip, Sullivan said at a Wall Street Journal event that he would discuss a timetable for ending the war and that he planned to call on Israeli authorities to “move to another phase of the highintensity operations that we are seeing today.” .
He will hold “extremely serious discussions” in Israel, said John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council.
Netanyahu admitted “differences” with Washington over how to manage Gaza after the conflict.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday that “any discussion about Gaza or the Palestinian cause without the presence of Hamas or resistance groups will be an illusion.”
He also said that Hamas was prepared for negotiations that would lead to a “political path that guarantees the right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
A poll released on Wednesday by the Palestinian Center for Policy Research found that Haniyeh is supported by 78% of residents of the Palestinian territories, up from 58% before the war.
“The Darkest Chapter”
Adding to American pressure, the U.N. General Assembly this week overwhelmingly approved a nonbinding text calling for a ceasefire, but the United States voted against it.
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Wednesday that Gazans were facing the “darkest chapter of their history”.
The UN estimates that 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been displaced and are living in tents. They lack food, drinking water, medicine and fuel.
The city of Rafah, in the south and near the border with Egypt, has become a large refugee camp with hundreds of tents.
“We spent five days outdoors and now the rain has flooded the tents,” said Bilal alQasas. Gusts of wind shake the fragile structures that people try to reinforce with plastic.
“Where should we migrate to? “Is our dignity lost?” asks Al Qasas.
The UN has warned of the spread of disease and Gaza's hospital system is in shambles. Hamas authorities say the territory will run out of vaccines for children and fear “catastrophic” consequences.
Dead soldiers
The Israeli army is under increasing pressure to reduce the death toll in its ranks and release hostages held by Hamas.
115 soldiers have died in Gaza since the ground offensive began. Hamas kidnapped nearly 240 hostages in the October 7 attacks. During a weeklong ceasefire in November, dozens of people were released and some died.
The Israeli embassy in Romania announced on Wednesday the death of 41yearold RomanianIsraeli hostage Tal Haimi.