UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – In addition to the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces increased raids during the night in major cities in the occupied West Bank
The Israeli army is concentrating its operations on Thursday, December 28, on the center of the Gaza Strip, despite a critical situation for civilians, calls for a ceasefire and a possible “expansion» operations on the border with Lebanon. Le Figaro takes stock of the latest events linked to the conflict.
Multiplication of raids
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. In addition to the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces increased raids during the night in major cities in the occupied West Bank, notably in Jenin and Ramallah, where Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority is based, 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.
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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.
Emmanuel Macron reiterates his demand for a “lasting ceasefire”
In Gaza, the local population faces “grave danger” with “hunger and desperation” worsening, to the point where “hungry people blocked our convoy in the hope of finding food”, said 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 Élysée 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 permanent fire” and not just a simple pause in the fighting.
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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.
Drone crashes in annexed Golan, Iraqi faction claims
A drone crashed near a village in the part of the Golan annexed by Israel, the Israeli army said Thursday after an Iraqi faction close to Palestinian Hamas claimed responsibility for an attack on this sector. According to Israeli media, a drone probably equipped with explosives launched from Syria fell late Wednesday evening south of Eliad, in the Golan annexed by Israel, without causing injuries but causing material damage. Questioned early Thursday by AFP, the Israeli army confirmed the crash of this drone near Eliad without further details.
In a statement, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a nebula of fighters from pro-Iran armed groups, claimed to have struck a “vital target” south of Eliad with “appropriate weapons”. Since the start of the Israel/Hamas war, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against American and international coalition forces in Iraq and Syria. Washington has so far counted 103 attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria since October 17, according to a count reported by the American military official.
At least 21,110 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas
The war has left 21,110 dead in the Gaza Strip, including 6,300 women and 8,800 children, according to the Hamas administration’s health ministry. 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.
Quadruplets are born in the middle of war
In Deir al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, Iman al-Masry says she gave birth to quadruplets – two boys and two girls – in the midst of 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“, 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 we lack really nutritious food“, she adds, saying she fears that the bombings will shatter windows all around and injure newborn babies. “I didn’t think the war would last this long. I thought that after ten days we could return home (to Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza). We didn’t take anything with us.”confides Ammar, her husband, at her side.