Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a ceasefire in the war against Hamas, which entered its second month on Tuesday, despite repeated calls for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and a death toll of more than 10,300, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement.
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During the night, Israeli airstrikes continued unabated on Palestinian territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, killing more than 100 people, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.
According to the army, Israeli ground troops advanced further into the Gaza Strip under air cover after surrounding Gaza City and dividing the area in two.
“Stop this unjust war (…). They target civilians in their homes. Stop this machine of destruction. Save us,” said Hicham Koulab, a displaced Palestinian hit by Israeli bombings in Rafah, in the territory’s south.
In Israel, a minute’s silence was observed in several cities and institutions, including parliament, in memory of the more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, who died in Hamas’ October 7 attack from the Gaza Strip under its control.
In that attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Hamas militants who had entered southern Israel on the Gaza border took 241 people hostage and brought them to Gaza. In retaliation, Israel declared a war to “annihilate” Hamas, relentlessly shelled the Gaza Strip and pushed deep into the territory.
“Without the release of our hostages, there will be no ceasefire in Gaza,” Netanyahu said in an interview with the American broadcaster ABC News on Monday evening.
“As far as the small tactical pauses, an hour here, an hour there, we have already had them,” Mr. Netanyahu added after the White House made an announcement mentioning the “possibility of tactical pauses” to target civilians to enable the flow of humanitarian aid to escape the fighting.
“Terrible scar”
While Israel unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that his country would “indefinitely assume overall responsibility for security” in the Palestinian territory after a war to prevent this. The report says it marks the return of Hamas, an organization described as “terrorist” by the United States and the European Union.
A month after the start of the war, on the esplanade of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, more than a thousand people, mostly students and teachers, observed a moment of silence together, then prayed and sang the “national anthem.”
“The atrocities have left a terrible scar, a trauma on a personal level but also on a national level,” said Asher Cohen, the president of the university where several graduates were killed, as witness statements followed one after another, interrupted at the microphone. Through tears.
A teacher shows the photo of his son and his girlfriend, who were killed by Hamas commandos: “They believed in peace.”
Israeli bombings in Gaza killed 10,328 people, mostly civilians, including 4,237 children, according to a recent report Tuesday by the Hamas Ministry of Health, the UN, NGOs, Arab world leaders and others. Other countries continue to call for a ceasefire.
An idea also rejected by the United States, Israel’s close ally, which is pushing for “humanitarian pauses” and insisting on Israel’s right to defend itself.
On Monday, UN chief Antonio Guterres again urged a “humanitarian ceasefire” in the small Palestinian territory that he said has been turned into a “cemetery for children.” He also condemned “heinous acts of terror” by Hamas on October 7 and castigated that movement for using “civilians as human shields.”
“Other War”
On Sunday evening, the Israeli army intensified its bombing raids by air and sea. The most intense ground fighting took place in the north of the territory, where the city of Gaza is located, where Israel says the “center” is located. of Hamas. .
In the past 24 hours, “troops have secured a Hamas military stronghold in the northern Gaza Strip and seized rockets, anti-tank missiles, weapons and various intelligence materials,” the army said. In coordination with ground troops, warplanes bomb “terror cells” and destroy “Hamas tunnels.”
According to the army, at least 30 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 27.
“This is a war like we have never seen before,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“Not a safe place”
The Israeli bombings are having a serious impact on the approximately 2.4 million Palestinians trapped in the 362 km2 area. The Israeli-imposed siege since October 9, when Gaza had already been under an Israeli blockade for more than 16 years, has deprived them of water, electricity and food supplies.
According to the United Nations, they also pushed 1.5 million people onto the streets.
“We are civilians. The Jews (Israelis) say go to a safe place. “There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip,” protested Bilal Loubad, a Palestinian displaced person in Rafah, as people gathered around the bodies of their relatives killed in a strike.
The Israeli army has repeatedly called on Palestinian civilians in leaflets and text messages to leave the north of the Gaza Strip towards the south. However, the south of the besieged area continues to be hit by Israeli bombings.
In Khan Younes, also in the southern Gaza Strip, rescuers searched for survivors among the rubble after nightly Israeli attacks destroyed homes.
After morning strikes in Gaza City’s neighborhoods, thousands of residents, including children, have taken to the road south, walking for miles. Israeli tanks were stationed on one of the streets used by the displaced people, some of whom carried white flags.
“Ocean of Needs”
In addition to the devastating bombings and fighting, fleeing Palestinians complain that they have no water or food, and according to Mr. Guterres, the 569 aid trucks that have arrived in Gaza since October 21 are “nothing compared to the ‘Ocean of Israel.’ Needs'”. .
As the international community fears an escalation of the conflict, exchanges of fire continue on the Israeli-Lebanese border between the Israeli army on the one hand and Hezbollah and its allies, including Hamas, on the other.
Violence has also increased in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where more than 150 Palestinians have been killed by shelling by Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority.