Israel has prepared a plan that foresees the evacuation of civilians along the Gaza coast and presented it toEgypt. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) according to which the plan – in view of the army’s announced military operation in the south – identifies 15 places, with 25 thousand tents each, ranging from the southern tip of Gaza City to Moassi, north of the city of Rafah. In Rafah there are over a million displaced Palestinians, at risk of being involved in the military operation. According to Egyptian sources, cited by the WSJ, Israel estimates that the costs of the camps – with medical facilities – will be borne by the USA and Arab countries.
On the negotiations front, according to what the Times of Israel writes, Israel and Hamas have made “progress” on an agreement leading to a 6-week ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza. The newspaper cites two sources with direct knowledge of the ongoing talks in Cairo. According to an Egyptian official, mediators have achieved what they described as “relatively significant” progress and that the parties now focus on drawing up “a final draft” for a 6-week ceasefire with the guarantee of further negotiations for a permanent one. A Western source, while evoking caution, underlined the importance of today’s meeting.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army is continuing operations in the western area Of Khan Yunis, the Hamas stronghold in the southern Gaza Strip, a stone’s throw from Rafah. This was announced by the military spokesperson, according to whom “over 30 terrorists were killed” and control of the area was “strengthened with raids on terrorist infrastructures, snipers and patrols” by Hamas. “In the western part of Khan Yunis two terrorists attempted to move under the cover of the civilian population”, continued the same source, adding that they were “eliminated”. “This is another example,” he said, “of Hamas’ systematic use of the civilian population as a human shield.” The soldiers then “destroyed two weapons depots located in the terrorists’ residences”. In addition to the south, the army also operated in the center of the Strip.
Today the Chinese asked Israel to stop the military operation a Rafah “as soon as possible”. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated this in a statement. “China… opposes and condemns actions that harm civilians and violate international law,” the statement said. Beijing urges Israel to “stop its military operations as soon as possible and make every effort to avoid innocent civilian casualties… to prevent a more serious humanitarian disaster in the Rafah area.” Also there Russia views an Israeli military operation in the city of Rafah “extremely negatively”, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov quoted by Tass. For his part, the Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani he noted that “at this point Israel’s reaction is disproportionate, there are too many victims who have nothing to do with Hamas.” And he asked the Jewish state to “avoid reprisals against the Palestinian civilian population”. But the Foreign Minister also said he did not agree with the words of Francesca Albanese: “the Hamas attack was a military attack aimed at hunting Jews and which had inhuman consequences with violence and desecration of corpses, things never seen before. What Mrs. Albanese says is not correct and I understand the reaction of ‘Israel. In the face of a conflict we must be cautious,’ Tajani reflected after Israel banned the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories from entry for her statements regarding responsibility on 7 October.
“Calls to limit Israel’s defense only strengthen Hamas,” denounced the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, in response to the head of EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell, who asked to limit the supply of weapons to Israel. Katz recalled that Israel adheres to “the international laws of war and ensures the safe movement of civilians in Gaza, unlike Hamas which prevents it.” “Israel – he concluded – is determined to dismantle Hamas”.
Yesterday the Israeli army, with a special forces blitz, freed two hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October in Rafah, in the south of the Strip. The latter had said they had been kept ‘in a family’s house’, Hamas he had instead announced the death of three others kidnapped in the bombings. And he had said that at least one hundred people had died in the Israeli raids.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which had given the green light to the action in recent days, called the blitz “one of the most successful rescue operations in the history of Israel”. For the Minister of Defense Yoav Gallantthe operation represented “a turning point in the campaign against the Hamas terrorist organization which is vulnerable and penetrable.”
American President Joe Biden furious with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for the military campaign in Gaza. According to NBC, he and his collaborators also indulged in insults. ‘Enough is enough, the Jewish state must stop’, Great Britain and the EU also said.
Clash in Holland on F35s. High tension also between Israel and the UN, after Francesca Albanese, envoy of the Human Rights Council, was denied access to the country.
New attack by the Houthis against a merchant ship in the Red Sea
A Greek-owned merchant ship was hit by rebels yesterday Houthi while sailing in the Red Sea and suffered minor damage: the forces of the United States Central Command (Centcom) announced this on X. The Houthis launched two missiles from areas of Yemen under their control towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the message said. Both missiles were aimed at the MV Star Iris, a Marshall Islands-flagged merchant ship carrying corn to Iran from Brazil. No one was injured on board the ship, which resumed sailing.
Lavrov, ‘the US is pushing the Middle East towards catastrophe’
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov he accused the US of “pushing Palestine, Israel and the entire Middle East towards a catastrophe”, and Washington and London of proposing “recipes” which “do not consist in proceeding towards a Palestinian state but in placing Gaza under a control that will be convenient for the Israeli authorities.” This was reported by the Russian state news agency Tass.
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