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
US President Joe Biden met this Wednesday at the White House with families of American hostages held in Gaza, according to a senior US executive official. This is the first in-person meeting of the American president with the families of hostages captured during the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip. The meeting was held in the presence of Secretary of State Antony Blinken. There are believed to remain eight Americans held hostage in Gaza, according to John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council.
The number of the day
18,608 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7 and the start of Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory, according to Hamas. It was the organization’s Ministry of Health which announced this new report this Wednesday. The Hamas government, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, estimates that 50,594 people were also injured, according to a ministry statement.
Sentence of the day
“The rise in extremist settler violence is inflicting immense suffering on Palestinians. It undermines prospects for lasting peace and could further aggravate regional instability. This is why I am in favor of sanctioning those involved in the attacks in the West Bank. »
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said this Wednesday that she was “in favor” of sanctions against “extremist” settlers in the West Bank. “The rise in extremist settler violence is inflicting immense suffering on Palestinians. It undermines prospects for lasting peace and could further aggravate regional instability. This is why I am in favor of sanctioning those who are involved in the attacks in the West Bank,” declared, in French, the President of the Commission before the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Today’s trend
“Nothing will stop us” on the path to “victory” in the war against Hamas, neither the deaths of soldiers nor “international pressure” for a cease-fire, the Israeli Prime Minister said on Wednesday Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We will continue until the end. there is no doubt. I also say this in light of the great suffering” caused by military losses but “also in view of international pressure,” said the Prime Minister while visiting a military base in southern Israel. “Nothing will stop us. We will go to the end, until victory, nothing less,” he added.
The head of Israeli diplomacy Eli Cohen also spoke this Wednesday, assuring that the war against Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip would continue “with or without international support” and that a ceasefire was excluded. at this stage.