There is mystery about the fate of Marwan Issa, number 2 of the Qassam Brigades and ranking member of Hamas.
Unidentified sources from the Islamic faction, cited by the Jerusalem Post, said that he was dead.
Arab media, reported by the Ynet website, instead claimed that his fate "is not yet known".
And while new talks are about to open in Doha in Qatar to reach a new truce, international pressure on Israel is growing more and more to block the military operation in Rafah, in the south of the Strip, where over a million displaced people are crowded Palestinians.
What is certain so far about Marwan Issa's story is that he was "hit" last March 8 in an Israeli raid, with bombs capable of penetrating deep into the ground, in a bunker in Nuseirat, in the center of the Strip.
Since then nothing more has been known about his fate.
The Israeli army limited itself to saying that he was indeed "hit" but that there is no certain proof of his death.
Not even official Hamas sources have so far confirmed his death.
However, what gives substance to the hypothesis that he was killed in that raid - sources reported by the media in recent days have pointed out - is the lack of any message from him or through close contacts with other military commanders or encrypted channels of the Islamic faction .
An important clue, even if the discovery of the body is missing, if ever it will be found.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military action in Rafah - confirmed today by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - worries the international community.
"We and the European leaders - underlined Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi at the summit with the EU in Cairo, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was also present - have agreed to reject the hypothesis of a military operation by Israel in Rafah , which would double the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe suffered by civilians in the Gaza Strip."
"We are very concerned - confirmed Commission President von der Leyen - about the risks that a large-scale offensive in Rafah could have on the vulnerable civilian population. This must be avoided at all costs".
Netanyahu countered that "no international pressure" will prevent Israel from achieving its goals in the war on Hamas, including the Rafah operation that "will take place" in the coming weeks.
But he reiterated once again that military action will not start "before the civilian population has been evacuated".
The problem of humanitarian aid is also a hot topic.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz - on a visit to Israel - denounced that we cannot "stand by and watch the Palestinians die of hunger" and that for this reason a "long-lasting" ceasefire is necessary.
"We are making efforts to increase aid, but the main problem - Netanyahu replied - is its distribution. From the moment the aid entered Gaza, it was stolen by Hamas".
Even the front with the Biden administration is in turmoil: after the declarations of the Democratic senator Chuck Schumer on the need for new elections in Israel, Netanyahu replied - after having defined those words as "totally inappropriate" - that those who want the vote are trying "to stop the war in Gaza."
Now the hopes of a turning point, albeit with all the necessary precautions, are entrusted to the negotiations in Qatar: Israel will shortly decide its position before the delegation, led by the head of the Mossad David Barnea, flies to Doha.
On the 163rd day of the war, the dead in Gaza, according to Hamas data, which cannot be independently verified, have reached 31,645, with 73,676 people injured.
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