To better understand the latest events in the conflict between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel, 20 minutes takes stock every evening. Between the strong declarations, the diplomatic advances or the dramatic results of the fighting, here are the main points of the day.
The fact of the day
A band hospital Gaza attacked by Israel. After Al-Shifa, the Israeli army stormed Al-Ahli Arab, one of the last still in service in the north of the territory. Several doctors, nurses and injured people were arrested by the armed forces, and the building was partly destroyed according to the director.
“The intrusion of the occupying army put the hospital out of service. We cannot accommodate patients or injured people,” he said. Four people were injured on Monday by Israeli fire while they were in the hospital and died on Tuesday.
Al-Ahli Arab, also called Baptist Hospital, had already been damaged after an explosion in its parking lot on October 17, causing more than 400 deaths according to Hamas authorities.
The number of the day
1 million. Like the number of children who experience “humanitarian nightmares” according to Unicef spokesperson James Elder. Returning from a two-week visit to Gaza, the executive said he was “furious that those in power shrug their shoulders in the face of the humanitarian nightmares inflicted on a million children.” He also said that Gaza is the “most dangerous place in the world” for a child.
He also indicated that in the last 48 hours, the largest hospital still functioning, the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes, “has been bombed twice” even though it houses “a large number of children who have already been seriously injured during attacks on their homes, but also hundreds of women and children who are seeking shelter.”
Sentence of the day
The delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip continues to face almost insurmountable challenges”
These are the words of Tor Wennesland, the UN envoy for the Middle East. He judged as positive but insufficient the recent “limited measures” taken by Israel to allow the entry of more humanitarian workers into the Gaza Strip.
Today’s trend
Looking for a common decision. The UN Security Council is still seeking a compromise to speak with one voice before a vote expected this Tuesday evening on a new resolution, the latest version of which calls for a “suspension” of hostilities in Gaza to allow access to humanitarian aid.
Less than two weeks after an American veto, the vote could be postponed again, according to diplomatic sources. On December 8, despite unprecedented pressure from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the United States blocked the adoption of a resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip where the he Israeli army continues its deadly strikes in retaliation for the unprecedented bloody attack by Hamas on October 7.