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
Two tanks opened fire on a UN training center that had become a refuge for displaced people in Khan Younes, in the south of the Gaza Strip, leaving “nine people dead and 75 injured”, a UN official said on X (formerly -Twitter). The Israeli army said on Tuesday that it had “surrounded” Khan Younes where it intensified its operations against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
UNRWA and the World Health Organization (WHO) were trying to contact the center on Wednesday, added Thomas White, director in Gaza of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), who had reported earlier of “buildings on fire and mass casualties”. Images broadcast by Al Jazeera in Arabic showed thick smoke and flames emerging from the building.
The entire complex houses 10,000 people, according to James McGoldrick, acting United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian Territories, deploring “another incident in which a building used for humanitarian purposes is damaged or struck.”
The number of the day
16. This is the number of NGOs who asked, this Wednesday, all countries to stop supplying weapons to Israel and Palestinian armed groups, stressing that these can be used in violation of international law. These arms deliveries “fuel the humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip, condemn the 16 NGOs signatories to this appeal, including Médecins du Monde, Oxfam and Amnesty International.
These organizations demand “an immediate ceasefire” and call on “all countries to stop delivering weapons that can be used to commit violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.” They call on the United Nations Security Council to adopt “measures” to put an end to these arms deliveries: “The international community is long overdue in respecting these commitments”.
Sentence of the day
Ongoing developments in the Red Sea region may impact the scheduling of some deliveries that will take alternative routes. »
A nice way of QatarEnergy of saying that the troubles in the Red Sea could have consequences on international deliveries of liquefied natural gas. The ships had to divert by a much longer route: that of the Cape of Good Hope for those going to Europe. Between the attacks on ships by the Houthis in Yemen, and the military response of certain Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom towards these same Houthis, the waters of the Red Sea are deserted by carriers.
Today’s trend
The highest court of the UN announced this Wednesday that it will render its decision on Friday on urgent measures requested by South Africa, which accuses Israel of “genocide” of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), which sits in The Hague, could potentially order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7.