2023-10-28 22:30:44
The war against Hamas entered a new stage on Saturday and it will be “long and difficult”, warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, three weeks after the start of hostilities, triggered by the deadliest attack in the history of Israel.
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The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinouar, spoke on Saturday evening for the first time since October 7 to say he was ready to conclude “immediately” an exchange of hostages that the Palestinian Islamist movement is holding in the Gaza Strip – 230, according to Israel – against “all Palestinian prisoners” incarcerated by Israel.
Since Friday evening, the Israeli army has been operating on the ground with soldiers and armored vehicles, while intensifying its bombardments of the Gaza Strip launched after the attack on October 7 since which 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mainly civilians. , according to local authorities.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, claims that 7,703 people, mostly civilians, were killed in these bombings, the heaviest death toll since the Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territory in 2005.
The UN fears a humanitarian catastrophe. Its Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, deplored, on Saturday, the “unprecedented escalation of bombings” which “compromise humanitarian objectives”, calling once again for an immediate ceasefire.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, found it “unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza amid massive bombings,” saying that “the world should not tolerate” what takes place in Gaza.
Around 2.4 million people live crowded together in Gaza (around 360 km2), lacking water, food, electricity and, since Friday, communications and internet.
A total of 84 trucks of humanitarian aid have been able to arrive via Egypt, according to the UN, but at least a hundred are needed per day.
“The war in the Gaza Strip will be long and difficult and we are ready for it,” Netanyahu said at a news conference in Tel Aviv, adding that his army “will destroy the enemy on land and underground “.
A reference to the gigantic network of underground tunnels of around a hundred kilometers from where, according to the military, Hamas directs its operations.
Now begins “the second stage of the war, the objective of which is clear: destroy the military capabilities and leadership of Hamas; bring the hostages home,” said Mr. Netanyahu after meeting the families of the 230 people held captive in the Gaza Strip, according to the authorities’ latest count.
On Saturday, the Israeli army repeated its call for residents of Gaza (north) to “leave immediately” towards the south, saying that it now considered this city and its region a “battlefield”.
According to the spokesperson for Civil Defense in Gaza, Mahmoud Bassal, “hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed” during the day.
In the Shati refugee camp, on the outskirts of Gaza City, the bombings caused significant damage.
The Israeli army reported “several Hamas terrorists killed”, including a leader “who took part in the organization of the October 7 massacre”, which deeply traumatized Israeli society.
Salvos of rockets were also fired from Gaza towards Israel during the day, wounding three people, according to doctors.
After “a night of immense anguish” due to the intense bombings, the families of the hostages were finally received on Saturday by Mr. Netanyahu.
Only four female hostages have been released to date. Hamas, which had threatened to execute hostages, estimates the number of them killed in the bombings to be “nearly 50”.
“We are ready to immediately conclude an exchange to release all the prisoners in the prisons of the Zionist enemy in exchange for all the hostages,” said Hamas leader in Gaza, Mr. Sinouar, in a statement.
The Israeli prime minister told the families of the hostages that he would explore “all options” to have them released.
The bombings on Gaza coincided with a communications and internet blackout in Gaza.
NGOs and UN agencies said they had lost contact with their teams in Gaza.
Humanitarian operations and hospital activity “cannot continue without communications,” said Lynn Hastings, a UN official.
On October 9, Israel imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, cutting off water, electricity and food supplies, even though the Palestinian territory had already been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade for more than 16 years. .
“Many more” people will “soon die” due to the siege, said the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini.
Some surgical operations are carried out without completely putting patients to sleep due to the shortage of anesthetic products, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned on Saturday.
Léo Cans, MSF head of mission in Jerusalem responsible for the Palestinian territories, recounted the operation this week of “a 10-year-old child, who had to amputate half of his left foot under half-sedation, on the hospital floor in the hallway because all the operating theaters were full.”
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