After the massacre by the Islamist Hamas in Israel, the country bombed the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of people die and thousands are injured. Aid organizations report a humanitarian crisis.
With its terrorist attack on Israel, the Islamist Hamas has set in motion a spiral of violence that is plunging the people of the Gaza Strip into a humanitarian catastrophe. In response to the worst bloodbath in Israeli history, the army is preparing a ground offensive on the densely populated Mediterranean region with more than two million residents. The army emphasized that only Hamas and its terror-related targets would be attacked.
According to the Israeli army, residential buildings in the Gaza Strip that the military said were used by the militants were also shelled. The five residential buildings affected were also used for terrorist activities by the Islamist organization ruling in the coastal enclave, the army said yesterday evening. In addition, a room from which Hamas monitors the activities of the Israeli armed forces was attacked. The army is attacking every position of the “murderers,” said military spokesman Daniel Hagari. Hamas has already lost control of large areas in the Gaza Strip.
According to official figures, Israel has suffered more than 1,200 deaths and 3,391 wounded. At least 150 people were deported to the Gaza Strip, including at least five Germans. The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip has risen to at least 1,537. At least 6,612 other people were injured, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced yesterday evening.
Norwegian Refugee Council calls for humanitarian corridors
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) joined the call for humanitarian corridors to the Gaza Strip. There is almost no fuel left in Gaza and supplies of medicine and food are dangerously low, said the aid organization’s Secretary General, Jan Egeland, yesterday. “This incredibly densely populated area is under a complete siege and relentless bombardment by Israel,” Egeland lamented. “Help workers can’t do their work if bombs are falling everywhere.”
The UN Emergency Relief Office (OCHA) reported that almost 340,000 people have fled their homes so far. But there are no really safe places anywhere in the small territory, which is only 40 kilometers long and between six and twelve kilometers wide.
Western politicians such as US President Joe Biden and the United Nations warned that Israel must uphold international humanitarian law in exercising its right to self-defense. Israeli President Izchak Herzog emphasized that the attacks in the Gaza Strip were “not retaliation.” The bombings targeted Hamas, Herzog said. “Hamas has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Abbas does not address Hamas atrocities
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned attacks on civilians “on both sides.” At a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman, Abbas did not address the atrocities committed by Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, as the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported yesterday. Abbas had been called on by several Western states to condemn the acts, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also wants to meet Abbas in Jordan today.
Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU, the USA and Israel. Hamas, the second largest Palestinian group after Abbas’ Fatah party, violently took sole control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
Media: Israel’s parliament approves emergency government
Israel’s parliament approved the formation of an emergency government by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politician Benny Gantz, Israeli media reported last night. The agreement on the emergency government stipulates that Netanyahu, Defense Minister Joav Galant and former Defense Minister Gantz from the National Union party will form a war cabinet. Former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Likud Minister Ron Dermer will serve as assessors without voting rights. Israel’s opposition leader Jair Lapid said yesterday evening that he would not join the emergency government, but that his party still supported the war against Hamas as such.
Scholz calls Erdogan and meets the Emir of Qatar
According to information from Ankara, in a conversation with Chancellor Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his offer to act as a mediator. This was announced by the Turkish presidential office.
In Berlin, in conversation with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Scholz called for the hostages in the hands of Hamas to be released as quickly as possible. The Chancellor emphasized “that Hamas has full responsibility for the well-being of the hostages,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.
The rich Gulf state of Qatar is one of Hamas’s most important supporters. The Foreign Ministry in Doha has blamed Israel solely for the massacre carried out by Hamas.
Baerbock and von der Leyen travel to Israel
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is traveling to Israel today on a solidarity visit. The Foreign Office spokesman said the visit was taking place “as part of their current crisis diplomacy”. Details of the Federal Foreign Minister’s program in Israel were initially not known.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also expected in Israel today. Together with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, von der Leyen is visiting Israel “to express solidarity with the victims of the Hamas terrorist attacks” and to meet the Israeli leadership, the Commission and Parliament announced late in the evening. No further details were initially known about this visit either.
Israel asked Germany for ammunition for warships. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said this. In addition, according to information from the German Press Agency, blood supplies and protective vests were also requested.
Lufthansa flew out the first Germans on special flights
Lufthansa began flying Germans home from Israel yesterday. The first special flight from Tel Aviv landed in Frankfurt in the evening, according to the Foreign Office in Berlin. There are 372 German nationals on board. Further flights on behalf of the German Foreign Ministry were to follow. Countries such as France, Great Britain and Lithuania also wanted to fly their citizens out.
Israel’s army chief admits failures
After the surprising Hamas terrorist attack, military chief Herzi Halevi admitted the army’s failures. “The IDF is responsible for the security of the country and its citizens and on Saturday morning we failed to live up to that responsibility,” he said in a statement yesterday. He advocated addressing the mistakes after the war.
Hamas official: “It took months to prepare the operation”
According to a senior Hamas official, Hamas’s preparations took months. Ali Barakeh, a Hamas official in exile in the Lebanese capital Beirut, told the German Press Agency yesterday: “It took months to prepare the operation.” So far they have achieved their goal. “Later we want to force a prisoner exchange,” said Barakeh.
Egypt: Israel should avoid attacks on Gaza border crossing
Egypt called on Israel to stop carrying out airstrikes on its only border crossing with the Gaza Strip. This is the only way repair work can be carried out on the currently closed lifeline to the Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.
The reason for the Israeli attacks near Rafah is likely to be tunnels under the border with Egypt. It is assumed that weapons are also smuggled through them. US Secretary of State Blinken, who was in Israel for talks yesterday, emphasized that the US was also holding talks about opening Rafah.