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
After 47 days of war and intense bombings on the Gaza Strip, the inhabitants of the Palestinian enclave will be able to take a few days off. An agreement was reached between Hamas and Israel providing for the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners and a four-day truce in the Palestinian territory. Several media outlets announced that the truce should come into effect on Thursday at 9 a.m.
Although considered a “crucial step” by the international community, several NGOs consider the duration of the truce “insufficient” in view of humanitarian needs. “It is insufficient and it is certainly not enough in terms of human rights,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International in the United States, during a videoconference in which Handicap international also participated. , Oxfam, Médecins sans frontières, Médecins du Monde and Save the Children.
“In four days, we cannot bring food to two million people, care to two million people,” however regretted Danila Zizi, head of Handicap International, believing that it would be “a drop in the ocean.” “. These NGOs then call for the establishment of a “ceasefire”, as well as the opening of other entry points into the Gaza Strip than that of Rafah on the border with Egypt. , in order to be able to reach more areas of the Palestinian territory.
The number of the day
40. This is the number of additional millions of euros that Norway will release for the benefit of the Palestinian populations affected by the blockade and the bombing of the Gaza Strip. Of the 470.5 million crowns (40 million euros) that the government is proposing to pay and which has yet to be approved by Parliament, 340.5 million will be devoted to humanitarian aid and emergency aid to Gaza, and 30 million with food security in this blockaded territory, tirelessly bombarded for six weeks.
The other 100 million crowns correspond to an increase in budgetary aid to the Palestinian Authority which rules the West Bank but which continues to pay civil servants in the Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas.
Sentence of the day
The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world for a child. »
“More than 5,300 Palestinian children would have been killed in just 46 days, that represents 115 children per day, every day, for weeks and weeks,” declared Catherine Russell, the head of Unicef, by videoconference, after a visit in the south of the Gaza Strip. “According to these figures, children represent 40% of deaths in Gaza. This is unprecedented. In other words, the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world for a child,” she insisted, also referring to 1,200 children missing, some probably under the rubble of the bombings.
Beyond the direct victims of the fighting triggered by the bloody Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, she was concerned about the risks of epidemics, in the virtual absence of drinking water, in particular for newborns, and of the increase in malnutrition. “A million children – all the children in the territory – face food insecurity, which could soon become a catastrophic crisis,” she warned, estimating that “in the coming months, the Wasting, the most dangerous form of malnutrition for children’s lives, could increase by almost 30% in Gaza.
Today’s trend
The war between Hamas and Israel is not only taking place in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry announced that six Palestinians were shot and killed in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army entered the camp at dawn according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which said its teams had been prevented by soldiers from accessing the camp.
The Red Crescent also claimed that a 16-year-old young man, injured in the face by fragments of an explosion, was arrested by the Israeli army in one of its ambulances before being released shortly after. According to this same source, a 26-year-old young woman was “beaten by the Israeli army” and transferred to hospital. The Palestinian Red Crescent also declared that it had treated 26 wounded in the West Bank in the last 24 hours, including four by bullets, in the towns of Tulkarem, Bethlehem, Toubas and Qalqilya.