The Israeli army launched an operation on Monday in the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings, with witnesses reporting airstrikes and the presence of tanks near this complex where thousands of civilians are taking refuge. The operation in the Al Shifa hospital, in the city of Gaza (north), occurs in parallel with efforts to reach a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, which began more than five months ago.
The head of the Israeli intelligence services, the prime minister of Qatar, and senior Egyptian officials are scheduled to meet on Monday in Doha to continue negotiations, a source close to the case told AFP. The war was triggered on October 7 by the bloody attack by Hamas in southern Israel, where its fighters killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli figures. The Islamists also kidnapped about 250 people.
Israel claims that 130 are still being held in Gaza, of which 33 have died. In response, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization like the United States and the European Union. The Gaza Ministry of Health, ruled by the Islamist movement, claims that the Israeli offensive has killed 31,726 people in the Palestinian territory so far, including 81 in the last 24 hours. The Israeli army announced on Monday that 250 soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza, on October 27, the last during the operation in Al Shifa.
This operation “is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by high-ranking terrorists” of Hamas, indicated the army, which He asked the population to “immediately evacuate the area to the west” and take the coastal road “to the south, to the humanitarian zone of Al Mawasi.” Fighting began shortly before dawn around the hospital, which the army had assaulted on November 15. Witnesses confirmed to AFP “air operations” in the neighborhood of to Rimal, where the hospital is located. According to some residents, “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” entered the area. “Soldiers have identified terrorists by shooting at them from several hospital buildings. Soldiers responded to the terrorists and hit several of them.” , indicated the Israeli army. The hospital operates at a minimum and with a reduced team. Less than a third of the hospitals in the territory, besieged and on the verge of famine, function, and only partially, according to the UN.
In Rafah, a city in the far south, the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians who are crowded there, according to the UN, they live in fear of a ground offensive. “No international pressure will prevent us from achieving all the objectives of our war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday, ensuring that he will not launch the operation “leaving the population trapped there.” “Before the war, Gaza was the largest open-air prison. Now it is the largest open-air cemetery,” deplored the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, on Monday.
Ante Due to the intransigence of both parties, international mediators – the United States, Qatar, and Egypt – are trying to reach a new truce like the one sealed at the end of November. The Islamist group said it was willing to accept a six-week truce and release 42 Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of between 20 and 50 Palestinians per hostage. It also demands the “withdrawal of the army from all cities and populated areas,” the “return of the displaced,” and the daily entry of 500 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza, according to one of its leaders. Netanyahu assured that he will not accept any agreement “that weakens Israel and prevents it from defending itself.”