Israel insists on ending the offensive on Gaza despite the US call for a ceasefire

Israel maintains the offensive against the Gaza Strip on the ninth day of hostilities, which began with an intense bombardment of Hamas's tunnel network in which for the first time there was no report on fatalities. The head of the Government, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the senior military commanders insisted on Tuesday that the planned military operations will be completed before considering a ceasefire. They thus ignore the call that the president of the United States, Joe Biden, made the night before to Netanyahu himself in "support of a ceasefire", but they seem to have understood the message of the White House, which urged "to make all efforts to ensure the protection of innocent civilians ”.Two Thai workers were killed in Israel when they were hit directly by a rocket near the border of the enclave.

The spokesman for the Israeli Armed Forces, General Hidai Zilberman, could not be more explicit.

“The issue [that is on the table] is not now a ceasefire.

We have a database of targets that is full and we are going to continue pressuring Hamas to achieve good results, "he told Army radio.

“This morning they gave us a list of objectives for the whole day.

We are going to hit anyone who belongs to Hamas, from the first to the last, "he added.

Faced with the official military narrative, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli aviation had attacked several targets in civilian areas at 50 points in the enclave early in the morning, causing “massive destruction”, although without being reported. the existence of deaths and injuries in the Strip.

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The Hebrew Army has temporarily reopened the Kerem Salom border crossing, in the south of the enclave and the only one enabled for the passage of goods, in order to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, such as food and medicine, as well as fuel for the facilities of the UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

This customs office had been closed since last day 10, when the conflict broke out after the launch of seven rockets from Gaza on the Jerusalem region.

The Erez pass, in the north of the Strip, was also opened a few hours for the entry of humanitarian aid, according to the Army spokesman, who reported that a soldier had been wounded by mortar shrapnel at that pass.

After the attack, the Strip was once again blocked.

General Zilberman said that 60 fighter-bombers had destroyed with 110 missiles about 15 kilometers of the Hamas tunnel network, in an offensive that has remained relentless since Friday. "We know where [Hamas members] are hiding and we are driving them abroad," the chief spokesman explained. The impression among military analysts in the Hebrew press is that the Army is taking advantage of what may be the final phase of the conflict to systematically bulldoze the bases and rocket launching pads of the militias, while blowing up houses. of the civilian and military leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, who no one has lived in since the start of hostilities. Rockets fired from Gaza have surpassed all missile barrage records, with more than 3.400 launches in just nine days.

In just over a week of war escalation, 212 Palestinians have died - of which 61 were children and 36 were women -, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which also reports more than 1,200 injured.

Army reports of the deaths of more than 150 Islamist militiamen from their attacks are inconsistent with health data.

The casualties in Israel amount to 12 dead, including two minors and a soldier, after the death of two Thai workers in an agricultural plant near the Gaza Strip, where seven other migrants were also injured.

Missile fire alarm sirens have continued to sound in Israeli villages around the coastal enclave as shelling by Israeli aviation has concentrated on militia rocket launching positions.

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Gaza's health infrastructure has been damaged during the Israeli offensive.

The only laboratory that tests for COVID-19 has been out of service.

The agency France Presse (Afp) also reported the deaths of two doctors in the bombings on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of Gazans civilians have been displaced from their homes by the conflict, and some 47,000 have taken refuge in schools and UN centers in the Strip.

General strike of the Israeli Arab community

The general strike called by the Supreme Arab Monitoring Committee, which groups together civil society organizations of the Arab minority in Israel (21% of its inhabitants), has had a wide following on Tuesday in shops, educational centers and hospitals in Jerusalem East (which includes the walled Old City), occupied and annexed by Israel after the 1967 war.

The mobilizations have also been important in cities in northern Israel with a presence of a population of Palestinian origin, such as Haifa and Um al Fahm, and have spread to the West Bank.

The protest follows a week of unrest in cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations, following clashes between protesters and police in Jerusalem during the recent month of Ramadan and against the backdrop of the largest armed conflict in Gaza since the devastating 2014 war. .