The Israeli army’s ground offensive against the Islamist Hamas is getting closer. Experts expect a bloody urban battle that could last months. The developments at a glance.
While Israel’s military continues to prepare for a ground offensive against the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip with increased air strikes, diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation continue.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected on Tuesday for a two-day visit to Israel, the Elysée Palace announced. On Monday, the EU foreign ministers will also discuss how their states can help prevent an escalation in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, UN organizations complain that with the first aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, urgently needed fuel has still not arrived in the sealed-off enclave.
UN official: Fuel shortage “strangles” Palestinians
Without fuel, people in the Gaza Strip, including children and women, would continue to be “strangulated,” warned the Commissioner General of the UN Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, in a statement. Fuel is needed, among other things, to continue operating power generators in hospitals. UNRWA will use up its reserves within the next three days, the UN emergency relief office Okha warned. Despite this, Israel continues its bombardment in Gaza. Experts expect an impending bloody urban battle between the army and Hamas.
Experts fear months of fighting on the ground
“There will be a lot of collateral damage,” said military historian Danny Orbach of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This refers to victims among the civilian population. Israel’s military has therefore repeatedly called on the population in the northern Gaza Strip to leave the area south – but there is no supply there for the displaced people. And there are attacks there too. The Israeli military published aerial photos on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that night, which are said to show how Hamas positioned rocket positions opposite a UN building, a mosque and schools. “Hamas is directly endangering the people of Gaza, Israelis and the international community,” it said.
Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant expects fighting to last possibly months. “It may take a month, two or three, but in the end there will be no more Hamas,” Galant said in Tel Aviv. Before Hamas meets Israeli forces on the ground, “the enemy” will first be confronted with air strikes. The next stage will “come soon”. Fighting in urban environments is “extremely difficult” and progresses slowly, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told ABC.
It is made particularly difficult by the “underground network of tunnels that Hamas has built over time and the fact that they have had a lot of time to prepare for a fight,” Austin said, warning: “I think we will have one “We will see a battle that will be characterized by many booby traps and bomb attacks.”
The diplomatic struggle for de-escalation continues
The leaders of the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy reaffirm their support for Israel and its right to “defend itself against terrorism” at a joint meeting. At the same time, they called for “compliance with international humanitarian law, including the protection of the civilian population,” said the White House.
Meanwhile, a good two weeks after Hamas’ attack on Israel, the EU states are struggling for unity in Middle East policy. Ahead of the foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, diplomats reported increasing tensions and significant differences of opinion.
On the one hand, there are states like Germany and Hungary, which fundamentally see the Israeli army’s ongoing counterattack as legitimate self-defense. On the other hand, there are countries such as Spain, Ireland and Belgium that are critical of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in view of the many civilian victims.
Further catastrophic situation for the people in Gaza
The aid deliveries that began at the weekend for the people in need in the coastal enclave with a good two million inhabitants, which is sealed off by Israel, are making slow progress. According to UN emergency aid coordinator Martin Griffiths, a second convoy of 14 trucks loaded primarily with medicine and food drove into Gaza on Sunday. He spoke of another “glimmer of hope”. The day before, the first delivery since the start of the Gaza war on October 7th crossed the border. According to the UN, around 100 truckloads of food would be needed every day to supply the people.
Hundreds of terrorists attacked Israel on October 7th on behalf of Hamas and carried out massacres in the border area. Since then, Israel has suffered more than 1,400 deaths, the majority of them civilians. The identification of the bodies is ongoing. In addition, according to the Israeli military, at least 212 people were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip, including Germans. Two American hostages were released on Friday.
Since the terrorist attack, Israel’s army has been bombing the densely populated Gaza Strip nonstop. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, the number of Palestinians killed there rose to 4,651. The numbers could not initially be independently verified. There have also been repeated clashes between Palestinians, the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Israeli army for days in the West Bank and in the south of Lebanon.
This will be important on Monday
The foreign ministers of the 27 EU states want to discuss the Middle East crisis and further support for Ukraine in the war against Russia in Luxembourg. When it comes to the Middle East, the main question is how the EU can help prevent a regional escalation of the conflict.