The war between Israel and Hamas is entering its most critical phase. As Israeli forces complete the encirclement of Gaza, Hamas threatens “a new October 7 for Israel”, while expectations for Blinken’s visit to the Middle East are rather muted, while Hezbollah (today) is expected to clarify its intentions as to whether it will open another front in Israel. It is typical that the Jordanian foreign minister is waiting for his American counterpart in Amman on Saturday to ask him to stop “the Israeli war on Gaza”. Even to the complaints of the United Nations about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel responds that the UN “repeats the propaganda of Hamas”.
Meanwhile, the pounding of the Gaza Strip continued last night by Israeli forces, who report that IDF soldiers are engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Hamas fighters. The “detail” is that, according to the Israeli military, Hamas terrorists are organizing attacks with the doctrine of “hit-and-run”. That is, they come out of the labyrinthine system of tunnels that exists in Gaza, attack the Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles with guerilla methods and return to them.
As Israel’s army, having completed the encirclement of Gaza City, escalates its attacks on positions used by Hamas, the water supply in the besieged areas is now threatened and the UN announced that four of its schools in Gaza that were being used as shelters had been damaged in the last 24 hours. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees also said at least 20 people were reported dead at a school in the Jambaliya refugee camp. Schools in the Beech refugee camp and Al Bureij camp were also damaged and three deaths were reported as the humanitarian crisis in the region spirals out of control.
A limited number of civilians managed to leave Gaza through the humanitarian corridor in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, which opened on Wednesday. Egyptian officials said 21 wounded Palestinians had left on Thursday, as well as 344 foreign passport holders, including 72 children. The UK Foreign Office said “more British nationals” had been able to cross into Egypt from Gaza, but did not give a figure, while the US said 74 American citizens with dual citizenship had left through the Rafah crossing.
Hamas’ health ministry in Gaza said more than 9,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, when the current conflict began, after Hamas launched its terror attacks in Israel, killing 1,400 people. Since then, Israel has been bombing Gaza with airstrikes as it seeks to “destroy Hamas”.
The thermometer rises with Hezbollah
At the same time, from Lebanon, Hezbollah announces that it attacked 19 targets in Israel at the same time. This is the most serious and intense attack from the Lebanese side on Israel since the day of the terrorist attack.
The Israeli military said it had hit a number of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response to the attacks, but did not provide further details. The climate is heating up dangerously just a day before Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s much-anticipated speech – his first public appearance since the conflict broke out in Israel.
Nasrallah will answer the crucial question: Will the situation between the two sides change, with skirmishes between them being limited to the Lebanon-Israel border, and will fears be confirmed that another war front will open in the region? The Hezbollah chief’s speech will signal the organization’s next moves, with Lebanon on the boil since October 7, effectively hanging from the organization.
Source: protothema.gr
