This is a new phase in Israel’s military operation against Hamas, which brings new concerns. The Israeli army carried out seven airstrikes in Rafah, according to an AFP journalist on site. The house of a local police chief was notably hit, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he had ordered the army to “prepare” an offensive on the southernmost town of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt. There are 1.3 million Palestinians there, the vast majority of whom are people displaced by the clashes of recent months. Follow our live stream.
Talks about a truce continue. Talks under the auspices of Qatar and Egypt continue in Cairo, where Hamas confirmed the arrival of a delegation on Thursday, led by a senior official from its political office. On Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected any concession to the Palestinian Islamist movement. The latter responded to a proposal for an agreement which was sent to him, a response which contains elements “unacceptable” but opens the way to a compromise, said the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken.
Antony Blinken warns against any action that “exacerbates tensions”. The American Secretary of State ends his tour of the Middle East on Thursday with an interview with the leader of the Israeli opposition, Yaïr Lapid. On Wednesday, he said he had warned Benjamin Netanyahu against any action that “exacerbates tensions”and called on Israel to take into account “First and foremost” civilians in the event of an operation in Rafah.
Hamas denounces an intention of “genocide”. Commenting on Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, Osama Hamdane, a senior official of the Palestinian Islamist movement, declared during a press conference in Beirut that the objective of the Israeli Prime Minister was to commit a “genocide” against the Palestinians. The Hamas Ministry of Health announced Thursday a new toll of 27,840 people killed, the majority women, children and adolescents, since the start of the war.