War in the Middle East
Updated on January 23, 2024, 10:55 p.m
Israelis mourn during the funeral of an Israeli soldier who was killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip on Monday (January 22, 2024).
© dpa / Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
Israel’s army complains about the most loss-making operation since the start of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The sadness is great. Israeli President Izchak Herzog spoke of an “unbearably difficult tomorrow.”
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, never have so many Israeli soldiers been killed in a single incident as on Monday. 21 soldiers were killed when two buildings exploded and collapsed in the afternoon, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday after a news blackout was lifted.
It was one of “the most difficult days since the outbreak of war,” said the Prime Minister
Israeli soldiers killed in explosion
Army spokesman Hagari described the fatal incident as follows: Most of the emergency services were in the houses or near them. They would have mined both buildings in order to finally blow them up. The explosions are probably a result of the mines. The cause of the detonation is being investigated, Hagari said. At the same time, in the incident on Monday afternoon, Palestinians fired a rocket at a tank that was supposed to protect the soldiers.
Those killed were army reservists, Hagari said. During an hours-long and complex operation, rescue teams rescued the victims after the incident.
Herzog: Behind every death there is a family
Israeli President Izchak Herzog spoke of an “unbearably difficult tomorrow.” Behind every soldier killed there is a family whose world has collapsed, he wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter).
According to the military, 220 soldiers have been killed since the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip began at the end of October. More than 1,200 others were injured. Since October 7th, 556 soldiers have been killed.
During the same period, more than 25,400 people died as a result of the military operation, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health authority. More than 63,300 other people were injured. This information cannot currently be independently verified. Because of the many victims and the great suffering of the civilian population, there is a lot of international criticism of the Israeli army’s actions.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. They murdered more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
Pressure on the government is increasing
In Israel, pressure on the government continues to increase. Thousands of people repeatedly demonstrate to get the hostages back from the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli government information, terrorists are still holding 132 people there who they kidnapped on October 7th. Israel believes that 27 of them are no longer alive.
According to a media report, Israel’s leadership has now proposed a two-month ceasefire in order to free the hostages. The offer, which was made to Egypt and Qatar, envisages a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the population centers of the Gaza Strip, the news portal Axios reported, citing Israeli officials. However, the proposal does not mean an end to the war, which Hamas has so far demanded in order to release more hostages.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, several Arab countries are working on a peace solution. This stipulates, among other things, that Saudi Arabia offers recognition to Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state. The details are still being worked out, but so far Israel’s attitude is negative. The USA, Germany and the EU are currently increasing pressure on opponents of a two-state solution, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ultra-right members of the cabinet.
Before the Gaza war, Saudi Arabia had already held talks under US mediation about a possible normalization of relations with Israel, but these came to a standstill as a result of the war. According to its own statements, Hamas wanted to torpedo the rapprochement between the two countries with its terrorist attack. (dpa/cgo)
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