Witnesses reported “air operations” and “fighting” around Gaza’s largest hospital complex, also considered a strategic Hamas military site by Israel.
The Israeli army announced on Monday that it is carrying out “a targeted operation in the area of al-Chifa hospital”in Gaza City. “The operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by high-ranking Hamas terrorists”says the IDF press release.
On site, witnesses confirmed that “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” entered the al-Rimal neighborhood where the hospital is located, the largest in the Gaza Strip, in which “shrapnel” would have fallen and that “air operations” would be underway there.
Israeli troops received “instructions on the importance of operating with caution, as well as measures to take to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical personnel”assures the Israeli army for its part.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by a bloody attack by this Palestinian terrorist movement, the Israeli army has accused Hamas of using health establishments as command centers. The Israeli army entered al-Shifa hospital on November 15 before withdrawing. She had found there “munitions, weapons and military equipment” of Hamas, which the movement denied. Israel also said it had discovered a 55-meter-long tunnel under the establishment, which it said was used “for terrorism”.
The hospital no longer functionsat a minimum and with a small team. Less than a third of hospitals in the Gaza Strip are operational, and only partially, according to the UN.
While a possible truce in the Gaza Strip is currently being negotiated by the mediating countries – United States, Qatar, Egypt – after more than five months of war, David Barnea, head of the Mossad, is going to Doha this Monday where he was initially expected on Sunday. He will offer a six-week truce, in exchange for the release of 40 hostages, reports an Israeli official, cited by Reuters, who adds that negotiations could last two weeks.
Hamas said it was ready, in a new proposal, for a six-week truce, during which 42 hostages – women, children, the elderly and the sick – would be released in exchange for 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released. He also demands “the withdrawal of the army from towns and populated areas”THE “return of the displaced” and the entry of 500 aid trucks per day into Gaza, according to one of its executives.
The Israeli Prime Minister spoke after a meeting with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. “If we are offered a deal, a path to peace that makes Israel weak and incapable of defending itself (…) it will set peace back.”affirmed Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli Prime Minister also assured Olaf Scholz that Israel will not launch a military operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, as long as the civilian population is “locked in place”. In this city, nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are now crowded together, according to the UN. Earlier in the day, however, Benjamin Netanyahu warned, according to a press release sent by his services: “we will act in Rafah, it will take a few weeks, but it will happen”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for his part, affirmed that Germany “will continue to support Israel”while warning its ally that its objectives in the Palestinian enclave make the situation of Gazans “more and more desperate”.
Across the besieged coastal territory, the human toll of the war between Israel and Hamas continues to rise with, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 31,645 deaths since October 7.
The Palestinians “need the bombs to stop”, declared Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, pleading on Sunday for a ceasefire in Gaza. The inhabitants “desperately need food, medicine and shelter”, he added. Israel controls the entry of land aid into Gaza, which remains very insufficient given the immense needs of the 2.4 million inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are threatened with famine according to the UN.
According to the NGO Oxfam, Israel prevents “deliberately” the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, whether food or medical equipment, in violation of international humanitarian law. In a report published Monday, the NGO denounces aid inspection protocols “unfairly ineffective” or even “attacks against humanitarian personnel, aid structures and humanitarian convoys”.
