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.
News of the day
On the 24th day of the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out any ceasefire on Monday evening. “Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas. This will not happen,” he said at a news conference in Tel Aviv. He also urged the international community to join his country in demanding the “immediate and unconditional” release of the hostages.
Earlier in the day, he indicated that the Israeli army was advancing “methodically, step by step” in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas claims that more than 8,300 victims, mostly civilians, have been killed in the bombings. The Israeli army says it has struck “600 targets” in the last 24 hours, weapons depots, anti-tank missile launch positions and Hamas hideouts. The military wing of the Islamist movement claimed to have fired anti-tank shells in the direction of “two armored vehicles” of the Israeli army.
The number of the day
3. This is the number of people, presented as hostages, who appear in a video published by Palestinian Hamas on Monday. 76 seconds long, titled “a number of Zionist detainees send a message to (Benjamin) Netanyahu and his government”, it shows three women sitting on plastic chairs. One of them, seated in the middle, calls in a heated tone on the Israeli Prime Minister to conclude an exchange of prisoners with the Islamist movement to obtain their release.
Sentence of the day
“Children are told to be careful”, the Jewish community is afraid in Paris. Some prefer to remove their yarmulkes in the street, others report insults: in the capital, Jews express their dismay at the anti-Semitism they see growing. Since October 7, 819 anti-Semitic acts have been recorded in France and resulted in 414 arrests, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
“We tell the children to be careful”
A phenomenon present elsewhere in Europe: “People feel very vulnerable, they are afraid, and (anti-Semitic) incidents are reaching records”, assures for example Raymond Simonson, the director of the JW3 cultural center located in London.
Today’s trend
Could Lebanon enter the conflict? In any case, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday that he was doing everything possible to avoid it, warning against a regional conflagration. “I am doing my duty to prevent Lebanon from entering into war,” he assured. “Lebanon is in the eye of the storm.”
Najib Mikati, who de facto leads the country without a president for a year, said he was not able to say whether Hezbollah, with which he maintains contacts, wanted a new war with Israel. Its leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to speak for the first time since October 7 this Friday.