Strikes on central Gaza, fear of “expansion” of conflict

In addition to the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are increasing raids at night in major cities in the occupied West Bank, notably in Jenin and Ramallah, where Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority is headquartered, according to the official Wafa agency.

The army general staff warned of an intensification of shooting along the border with Lebanon, the country from which Hezbollah operates, a movement which, like Palestinian Hamas, is part of the “axis of resistance”, a grouping of armed groups close to Iran and hostile to Israel.

Near the Lebanese border, in the Golan annexed by Israel, a drone crashed during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the Israeli army told AFP after a nebula of fighters from pro-armed groups Iran claimed responsibility for an attack on this area.

Moreover, Iran on Wednesday threatened Israel with “direct actions and others carried out by the resistance front”, after the death on Monday in a strike in Syria, which it blames on Israel, of Razi Moussavi, one of his high-ranking officers.

And Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi indicated that Israeli forces “are in a very high state of readiness for an expansion of fighting in the north,” where clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have been almost daily since the start of the fighting in Gaza.

Giving birth to quadruplets

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military indicated that it was continuing its operations in Khan Younes, the main city in the south, but also in the refugee camps in the center of the territory.

The health ministry of the Hamas administration in Gaza reported deadly strikes overnight in Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah, in the center of this territory of 2.4 million inhabitants, including 1.9 million (85%) were displaced by the war.

In Deir al-Balah, Iman al-Masry says she gave birth to quadruplets – two boys and two girls – in the middle of the war.

“They are so thin. It’s cold, it’s windy and there is no baby bath to wash them (…) I can’t give them a bath, I wash them with wipes,” she said. the 28-year-old mother, herself displaced by the war, told AFP.

“There are no diapers or powdered milk. I try to breastfeed them but there is a lack of really nutritious food,” she adds, saying she fears that the bombings will shatter the windows all around and do not harm newborns.

“I didn’t think the war would last so long. I thought that after ten days we would be able to return home (to Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza). We didn’t take anything with us,” confides Ammar alongside him. , his husband.

The war triggered by the bloody attack launched on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israel left 21,110 dead in the Gaza Strip, including 6,300 women and 8,800 children, according to the Hamas administration’s Ministry of Health.

In Israel, the attack by Hamas commandos left around 1,140 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on the latest official Israeli figures.

Around 250 people were kidnapped by Hamas, 129 of whom remain detained in Gaza, according to Israel, which has vowed to “destroy” the Palestinian Islamist movement, in power since 2007 in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for its unprecedented attack. And 167 Israeli soldiers have been killed so far, including three on Wednesday, in the ground offensive in Gaza, the army said Thursday morning.

“Long-lasting ceasefire”?

In Gaza, the local population faces “grave danger” with “hunger and despair” worsening, to the point where “hungry people blocked our convoy in the hope of finding food”, indicated the World Health Organization (WHO).

In a telephone interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his request for a “lasting ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, the Elysée indicated.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, whose country led a mediation that led to a truce in late November, spoke this week with US President Joe Biden about the need for a “cease and desist”. -permanent fire” and not just a simple break in the fighting.

A truce at the end of November allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as well as the entry into Gaza of a large volume of humanitarian aid. But the efforts of the mediators, Egyptian and Qatari, did not make it possible to renew it while the toll increases every day.

According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 195 people were killed in 24 hours in Gaza by Israeli forces. The ministry said on Wednesday that the army had notably targeted a house near Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younes, leaving 22 dead and 34 injured.

Trying to escape the incessant bombings, Palestinians who had found refuge in a UN school in the Nuseirat camp (center) fled south on Wednesday, loading mattresses, blankets and luggage on carts or on the roof of their cars.

“Even the UN schools are no longer safe”, “first we were moved to Nuseirat, then to Rafah. People no longer know where to go”, said one man. And added: “our message to the whole world: put in place a ceasefire.”