Palestinian police officers escorting humanitarian aid convoys are reportedly regularly targeted by Israeli armed forces because they are allegedly affiliated with Hamas.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, these attacks would leave drivers at the mercy of criminal gangs, who do not hesitate to rob trucks carrying food, as well as Desperate Palestinians. Due to the dangerous situation, humanitarian aid deliveries are falling drastically.
Israel had committed to allowing the passage of 200 humanitarian trucks per day, but only 62 would enter Gaza daily. Much more is needed to meet the needs of the population: the UN estimates that only 12% of the necessary humanitarian aid is actually delivered.
Systematic Hamas rapes
In Israel, a new report published by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers highlights the practices of Hamas militants during the October 7 attack: they would have methodically raped Israeli women.
Sexual assault is common and documented during conflicts, used as a weapon of war. The UN has confirmed two cases of rape perpetrated by Israeli soldiers on Palestinian women in recent months, and considers numerous other accounts of sexual violence in Gaza “credible.”
The report on the October 7 rapes in Israel highlights the high number of rapes in just a few hours, facts that are unprecedented according to Orit Sulitzeanu, director of the Rape Support Centers in Israel: “I don’t think that in recent history, and even in past history, things have happened in a few hours in such a sadistic and brutal way“.
Any hope of a ceasefire agreement?
The Israeli War Cabinet announced Thursday that it would send a delegation to Paris to participate in the new round of ceasefire negotiations – which will necessarily include an agreement on the release of the hundred Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
Representatives from Qatar, Egypt and the United States are also expected in the French capital, for negotiations which could begin as early as Friday.
Two weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had rejected Hamas ceasefire proposalrefusing any conditions that would not allow Israel to achieve its goal of “absolute victory“.
