Hamas released video of three Israeli hostages

Hamas released a video of three living elderly Israeli hostages on Monday, three days after the Israeli army admitted to mistakenly killing three other hostages, aged 25 to 28.

This recording is “a video of criminal terror that shows Hamas’ brutality towards elderly and innocent civilians who need medical attention”, denounced Monday a spokesperson for the Israeli army, Daniel Hagari.

At the same time, negotiations are continuing for the implementation of a new truce.

According to the Axios news site, CIA boss Bill Burns met with Israeli and Qatari officials in Warsaw with a view to new negotiations on the release of hostages.

“Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners, but after a ceasefire,” said an official of the Islamist movement on Tuesday.

A seven-day break allowed the release of 105 hostages in Gaza at the end of November, including 80 in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Calls for appeasement

Calls for appeasement from many diplomats are increasing.

British Foreign Minister David Cameron is due to meet his French and Italian counterparts on Tuesday to once again call for “a lasting ceasefire”, his services announced.

Visiting Tel Aviv on Monday, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin indicated that the United States would continue to provide the military “equipment” necessary for the Israeli army and that Washington did not wish to “impose a timetable” on its historic ally.

At the same time, the American minister insisted on the need to “reduce the damage caused to civilians” and “provide increased humanitarian aid to the nearly two million people displaced in Gaza”.

The United Nations Security Council should decide on a new text calling for an “urgent and lasting cessation of hostilities” in this Palestinian territory, after vetoes opposed by the United States to previous attempts.

Initially scheduled for Monday, this vote was postponed until Tuesday to allow further negotiations around this new draft resolution.

Storm in the Red Sea

The risk of regionalization of the conflict also concerns the international community, in particular because of the escalation of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on international maritime traffic in the Red Sea.

The United States announced on Monday the formation of an international coalition to confront it, which notably includes France and the United Kingdom. A few hours earlier, the Houthis announced that they had again targeted two ships they considered “linked to Israel”.

In recent days, many maritime transport giants have announced that they are suspending all transit in the Red Sea, because of these attacks concentrated on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, and through which 40 transit % of world trade.

Disastrous humanitarian situation

Considerable destruction, massive displacement of civilians, hospitals out of service, in a territory subjected by Israel to a siege since October 9: in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian situation remains disastrous.

The Human Rights Watch organization accused Israel on Monday of using “the starvation of civilians as a technique of war (…), which constitutes a war crime.” Accusations to which the Israeli government reacted by calling HRW “an anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli organization”.

Around 1.9 million residents, or 85% of the Gaza Strip’s population, have been displaced by the war.

Several hospitals were also caught in the fighting. Israel accuses Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, of using them as bases and of using civilians as “human shields”, which the Palestinian movement denies.

The Al-Chifa hospital in Gaza City and the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes were again targeted on Sunday and Monday by deadly strikes, according to Hamas.

The Israeli army announced on Tuesday the death of two new soldiers in the Gaza Strip. In total, Israel has lost 131 soldiers since the start of its ground operations on October 27, in addition to the bombings in the Palestinian territory.

Bombings in Lebanon

The Israeli army is also “currently preparing an airstrike against Hezbollah targets” in Lebanon, he added.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, this Islamist movement allied with Hamas has increased shootings from southern Lebanon bordering Israel, and the Israeli army responds with bombings. This raises fears of an extension of the conflict.

In Beirut, the head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna urged Lebanon on Monday to show restraint, after a similar appeal the day before to Israeli officials.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, for his part, called on Lebanese Hezbollah not to “provoke a wider conflict”.