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The plans for Israel The launch of a major military operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, provoked international condemnation on Thursday for the “catastrophic” consequences for the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in the city.
In a joint statement, Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel “Don’t follow that path.” “An expanded military operation will be devastating,” indicated the three countries. “Civilians simply have nowhere to go,” they said.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crowded into this city, the southernmost in the Gaza Strip, where they are taking refuge in makeshift camps near the now closed border with Egypt, fleeing the Israeli military campaign.
Despite international pressure, Israel insists that entering Rafah is essential to eliminate Hamas battalions.
“We will fight until complete victory, which involves vigorous action in Rafah, after we have allowed the civilian population to leave the combat zones,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
At the same time, international mediators continue to negotiate a truce in the war that has devastated large parts of Palestinian territory and displaced the majority of its population, on the brink of starvation, according to the UN.
In the case of a military operation in Rafah, the risk of atrocities is “serious, real and high”, warned Alice Wairimu, UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, on Wednesday.
Difficult negotiations
Mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt, meeting in Cairo, continue to seek an agreement to end the fighting and release around 130 hostages still in Gaza, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
“Israel “We have not received any new proposals from Hamas in Cairo regarding the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
According to Israeli media, the country’s delegation was ordered not to return to negotiations until Hamas changes its position.
“I insist that Hamas abandon its illusory demands, and when it abandons those demands, we will be able to move forward,” Netanyahu said.
The US CIA director met with the head of the Israeli Mossad in Cairo on Tuesday, while a Hamas delegation joined the talks on Wednesday.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who governs the occupied West Bank, called on Hamas to “quickly” agree to a truce.
The US FBI revealed that its director, Christopher Wray, made an unannounced trip to the Israel to meet with local security and intelligence agencies.
“Besieged” hospitals
Despite negotiations for a truce, Israel on Thursday it intensified its bombings in Gaza. According to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled Gaza, 107 people were killed in shelling on Thursday.
One of them died in the orthopedics department of Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Yunis, where several were also injured.
This hospital, the largest in the south of the Gaza Strip, has been the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks.
Doctors Without Borders condemned the Israeli order to evacuate thousands of patients, staff and displaced people from the hospital and assured that its staff continue to care for patients “in almost impossible conditions”.
Mohamed Al Astal, a nurse, told AFP that the hospital has been under siege for a month and there is no more food or drinking water.
“At night, tanks fired on the hospital and snipers on the roofs of the buildings opened fire and killed three displaced people,” he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says he was denied access to the hospital and lost contact with his staff.
Rik Peeperkorn of the WHO said patients often suffer limb amputations that could have been avoided under normal conditions.
The war broke out after the October 7 attack by Hamas militants in the south Israel, which killed around 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. The Islamists also kidnapped around 250 people, 130 of whom are still detained in Gaza.
In retaliation, Israel He promised to “annihilate” Hamas and his military offensive left more than 28,500 people dead in Gaza, especially women and minors, according to the latest report from the Gaza Ministry of Health.
On the border between Israel and in Lebanon tensions continue and the Israeli army announced that one of its soldiers was killed by a rocket launched from Lebanese territory.
In turn, Lebanese sources assured that several Israeli attacks left nine dead in the country, seven of them civilians.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
