The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had discovered Hamas’ “largest tunnel” under the besieged Gaza Strip, where it continues its deadly strikes despite pressing calls for a ceasefire.
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had discovered Hamas’ “largest tunnel” under the besieged Gaza Strip, where it continues its deadly strikes despite pressing calls for a ceasefire.
“This massive network of tunnels, which is divided into several branches, extends for more than four kilometers and arrives only 400 meters from the Erez crossing point”, between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip , indicated the Israeli armed forces.
This tunnel was revealed to the press on the 72nd day of the war triggered on October 7 by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip, which left some 1,140 dead, mostly civilians.
In retaliation, the Israeli army vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, relentlessly bombing the narrow strip of land, which has been under total siege since October 9.
Israeli strikes have left more than 18,800 dead, the majority of them women, children and adolescents, according to the latest report from the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The army also launched a land operation on October 27, first confined to the north of the small territory, before expanding to the south where hundreds of thousands of displaced people gathered.
The tunnel unearthed by the army is equipped with a system of pipes, electricity, ventilation, sewers, communication networks and rails, noted an AFP journalist authorized to visit there. give back.
The army claims to have discovered a large number of weapons there ready to be used in the event of an attack by Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel.
“Immediate and lasting truce”
The neutralization of the tunnels is one of the priorities of the Israeli operation, while the Gaza Strip would be dug with 1,300 galleries over 500 kilometers, according to estimates from the Institute of Modern Warfare at the American military academy West Point.
Visiting Israel on Sunday, the head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna expressed Paris’ concerns about the scale of civilian victims, and called for an “immediate and lasting” truce.
“Too many civilians are being killed,” she declared after a meeting with her counterpart Eli Cohen, who considered that “any call for a ceasefire” was “a gift to Hamas.” .
The head of British diplomacy David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock called for “a lasting ceasefire”, as quickly as possible, in a joint article published by the Sunday Times. But they are opposed to a “general and immediate ceasefire”, believing that Hamas “must lay down its arms”.
Israel’s main allies, the United States will be represented in the coming days by American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is due to meet leaders in Israel, but also in Bahrain and Qatar.
He should in particular discuss the tensions caused by the attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, presented as responses to the war between Israel and Hamas. Several giants of global maritime transport have announced that they are interrupting the passage of their ships through this strategic maritime route for international trade.
“Bloodbath”
The Hamas Ministry of Health deplored on Sunday the death of 24 Palestinians killed in the Jabaliya camp (north) during an Israeli bombardment.
Other strikes killed at least twelve people in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Sunday, according to the Hamas government.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the emergency department of al-Chifa hospital, the largest in Gaza City, has become “a bloodbath”, with hundreds of patients injured and new ones arriving “every minute”.
The WHO also said it was “dismayed by the destruction” of the Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, reporting the deaths of eight patients. Israel assured that Hamas was established there.
ADVERTISEMENTThe bombings left much of the territory in ruins and the UN estimates that 1.9 million of Gazans’ 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war.
To alleviate shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, Israel began letting in humanitarian aid from the Kerem Shalom crossing, on the border with Egypt, following an agreement with the United States. United. Until then, the Rafah terminal was the only one through which humanitarian aid entered in dribs and drabs.
A source from the Egyptian Red Crescent, equivalent to the Red Cross, told AFP that 79 trucks passed through this terminal on Sunday.
Furthermore, telecommunications, cut off on Thursday, were restored on Sunday evening.
“Military pressure”
Outside Gaza, the Palestinian Authority deplored the deaths on Sunday of five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where violence has flared since the start of the war.
ADVERTISEMENTIsrael also regularly exchanges fire across its northern border with Lebanon, mainly with the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah movement, allied with Hamas and supported by Iran.
In Syria, Israeli air raids near Damascus injured two Syrian soldiers, the Syrian Defense Ministry also indicated.
In Israel, pressure on the government has increased since Friday’s announcement of the death of three hostages killed by soldiers who mistakenly took them for Palestinian fighters.
Sunday, during the funeral of Alon Shamriz, one of the three Israeli hostages killed “by mistake” by the Israeli army, his relatives attacked the army, accusing him of having “abandoned” and “murdered ” the young man of 26 years old.
The latter published photos on Sunday evening that she said she had taken at the scene of the tragedy. We see messages in Hebrew written on pieces of white fabric where we can read: “SOS”, “Help” or “3 hostages”.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Israeli military said the soldiers violated the rules of engagement.
Mr Netanyahu said the deaths of the three hostages “broke the hearts of the entire nation”, but that military pressure was necessary to free the remaining captives.
One already released hostage, Israeli-German Raz Ben-Ami, 57, spoke of the “daily, mental and physical humiliation” she suffered, including only one meal a day and lack of proper toilets .
Some 250 people were captured in the October 7 attack, 129 of whom remain in the hands of Hamas and other armed groups.
Qatar, a key mediator who worked to free hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in late November, confirmed on Saturday “ongoing diplomatic efforts”.
ADVERTISEMENTHamas, however, declared itself “against any negotiations on the exchange of prisoners until the aggression against our people ceases completely.”
