JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP
A rocket fired by Israel towards the Gaza Strip, December 3, 2023.
MIDDLE EAST – Fighting has begun again. Three days after the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the ceasefire that allowed the release of around a hundred hostages and 230 Palestinian prisoners appears to be a long way off this Sunday, December 3rd. The hope that the strikes will be stopped again is even greater. HuffPost takes stock of the situation.
• Netanyahu wants to continue the fighting
The Israeli prime minister’s stated goal since the October 7 Hamas attacks has been clear: “destroy” the Islamist movement, which is considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the EU. Despite Emmanuel Macron’s warning highlighting the danger of a 10-year war, Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Saturday that the conflict would continue until “all objectives are achieved.”
“We cannot achieve these objectives without continuing ground operations,” which “have been essential to achieve results so far,” he added during his first news conference since the end of the ceasefire a week ago.
• Intensive resumption of strikes
In this context, this Sunday the IDF carried out new air strikes and subsequent artillery fire in the far north of Gaza, along the border with Israel. The army has also stepped up airstrikes in the south of the territory. The Khan Younès region was particularly targeted.
On Saturday it said it had carried out more than 400 attacks on Gaza in almost 48 hours. And this Sunday she tweeted that she had “eliminate five terrorists” and targeted Hamas “terrorist tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons depots.”
“By expanding our military operations, we achieve two goals. “First we strike Hamas, eliminate more terrorists, commanders, terrorist infrastructure, (…) and we create the conditions to force (Hamas) to pay a high price: the release of the hostages,” said the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The health ministry of Hamas, which is in power in the overpopulated Palestinian territory, complained on Saturday that more than 240 people had been killed and 650 injured since fighting resumed on December 1. According to Hamas, the bombings in Gaza have left “more than 15,523 dead, 70% of them women and children” since the start of the war.
Without questioning its ally’s right to “defend itself,” the United States warned Israel of the increase in civilian casualties in Gaza. “Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” American Vice President Kamala Harris has insisted since COP28 in Dubai, alarmed by “devastating” images.
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Hamas and Islamic Jihad, for their part, announced new rocket attacks on Israel this Sunday. Most of the planes are intercepted by the Israeli air defense system.
• Negotiations blocked
Both camps accuse each other of being responsible for the end of the ceasefire. Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of “violating the agreement” by firing “missiles” into Israel. The Palestinian movement claimed responsibility for an attack in Jerusalem that killed four Israelis and accused Israel of setting new conditions for the release of hostages, including Israeli soldiers.
The number two in Hamas’ political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, stated: “The price for the release of Zionist prisoners will be the release of all our prisoners after a ceasefire.” » According to the Israeli army, 137 hostages are still in its hands Hamas or groups affiliated with it.
Given the “impasse” in the discussions, Israel’s envoys to Qatar, the main mediator between the two belligerents, returned to Jerusalem.
• The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza continues
Meanwhile, needs remain enormous in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a “full siege” by Israel since October 9, with 1.8 million people – out of a population of 2.4 million – displaced by the war, according to the United Nations.
According to the international organization, the army’s evacuation orders for Palestinians covered a quarter of the Gaza Strip before Saturday’s attacks. These orders, “without guarantees of safety or return,” were “tantamount to forced relocation,” ruled the NGO “Norwegian Refugee Council.”
The UN human rights representative Volker Türk judged that the evacuations resulted in “hundreds of thousands of people being confined to ever smaller areas”. He is concerned about the lack of water, food and health care, especially since, in his opinion, there is “no safe place in Gaza.”
The concern is particularly great in hospitals. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasized that Khan Younes had “three times its capacity” on Saturday and referred to a “terrifying situation”.
In addition, on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent received the first “relief trucks” since Friday through Egypt’s Rafah Terminal. According to the United Nations, 880 foreigners and dual nationals were also evacuated via Rafah in Egypt and 13 were injured.
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