Soaring the thermometer in the Middle East and the Gaza Strip, with Israel. to escalate in Lebanon as well.
The Israeli armed forces intensified their strikes in Lebanon, killing yesterday Wednesday a leading figure of the Palestinian Fatah movement, for the first time since the outbreak in the Gaza Strip, where in the early hours of today at least 11 people were killed in the bombing of an apartment building, a few hours after the death of three people and the wounding of 10 children in the bombing of yet another school that had been turned into a shelter for displaced people, in Gaza City, according to information about the two incidents released respectively by the Palestinian news agency WAFA and the civilian protection of the enclave.
The Fatah of the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of intending, with the “assassination” of Khalil al-Maqda, to cause “ignition in the region”, while the ninth tour of the head of American diplomacy Anthony Blinken in the Middle East has just been completed , without any tangible result in his attempt to secure a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Pressing Biden to Netanyahu
A few hours after the departure of the US Secretary of State, US President Joe Biden “stressed the urgency of finalizing a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages” in the enclave in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House announced.
He also referred to “upcoming talks in Cairo to overcome any remaining obstacles,” his services added in a laconic press release, as hopes of a deal fade.
The war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s military arm in southern areas of Israeli territory that killed nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of approximately 2.4 million residents of the besieged Gaza Strip.
An ally of Hamas, the Lebanese Hezbollah has since October 8 opened a front against Israel on the border of the two countries, where the violence has not stopped since.
Who is the Fatah leader who was killed
Yesterday, the Israeli army launched a series of strikes in Lebanon, killing six people, according to Lebanese authorities. Among them was Khalil al-Maqda, a leading figure in Fatah’s military wing, who was killed in a hit to the car he was riding in in Saida (south).
The Israeli army accused him of “acting on behalf” of Iran, a sworn enemy of the Jewish state, and of engaging in “terrorist activities”.
Hamas — an ally of Iran — and Fatah have been rival factions for decades: the Islamist movement took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007 by ousting Fatah forces, now based mainly in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Hezbollah announced that yesterday it launched about ten attacks against Israeli military positions, both in northern Israel and in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, with rockets and attack drones.
“We are ready to face any scenario” with either “defensive” or “offensive” actions, Mr. Netanyahu said during his visit to northern Israel.
Blinken and the Netanyahu games
It was against this explosive backdrop that Mr Blinken completed his ninth tour of the region since the war broke out, after warning that the latest, what he said was a compromise, proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip could be the “last chance”. to conclude an agreement.
The head of the State Department, who traveled to Israel, Egypt and Qatar, assured that the Israeli government accepted the proposal, the details of which have not been disclosed, and urged Hamas to do the same.
The Palestinian Islamist movement accused the US of adding to the plan “new conditions” set by Israel, notably the maintenance of Israeli troops on the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt.
According to reports in the Israeli press, Mr Netanyahu insists that the Israeli armed forces will in any case retain control of the so-called “Philadelphia Corridor”, a narrow strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border. Mr. Blinken was quoted as recalling that Washington opposes “long-term Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas claims to implement a proposal presented by US President Biden on May 31, and the movement assured that it accepts in early July. It called for a six-week ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from densely populated areas of the enclave, the release of Israeli hostages and in exchange for Palestinian prisoners; then, in a second phase, the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the besieged enclave.
New talks in Cairo for a truce
In theory, new talks are expected to be held within the week in Cairo, with the participation of Israel and the mediators (Qatar, Egypt, USA).
Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly said he wants to continue the war until Hamas, which Israel designates as a terrorist organization, as do the US and the EU, is eliminated.
For the US, a truce in the Gaza Strip would help avert the risk of a Middle East flare-up following threats by Iran and its allies to retaliate for the July 31 assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya in Tehran, attributed to Israel from the Islamic Republic.
The attack by Hamas’ military arm in southern Israel on October 7 left 1,199 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 abductees taken to the enclave that day, 105 are believed to be still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, but 34 of them have been declared dead by the Israeli military.
In a kibbutz in southern Israel, relatives yesterday buried one of the hostages, whose body was recovered by the armed forces in an operation in the Gaza Strip.
“Is there any humanity left?”
“Into what world must families beg, cry, and wail for the return of their own, dead or alive? Bring them all back,” said the mother, Esther Bustab.
At least 40,223 Palestinians have been killed in large-scale Israeli military retaliatory operations in the Gaza Strip since then, which have caused massive destruction, according to Hamas’ health ministry. The ministry does not specify how many of the victims were civilians and how many were fighters, however the UN emphasizes that the majority of them were women and children.
At least 27 Gazans were killed yesterday, including three at a school that had been turned into a reception center for displaced people in Gaza City (north), according to civil protection. The Israeli army claimed for its part that this school was a Hamas “base”.
“Is there any humanity left?” asked Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, via X.
According to the UN, the multiple emergency civilian evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army are pushing the residents of the Palestinian enclave, amid a humanitarian disaster, into “overpopulated areas” that are “dangerous”.
“Where are we supposed to go? There is (Israeli) bombing everywhere. We don’t have members of the resistance here, but bombs are falling on people’s heads,” said Umm Mina Abu Mugassib, a fifth-time displaced person, in Deir al-Bala.
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