Negotiations for a second truce, the risk of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, fears of a conflagration with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen... Le Figaro takes stock of the war between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday, December 20.
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Hamas leader expected in Egypt
The Hamas leader is due to visit Egypt on Wednesday (December 20th) to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel said it was ready to accept a new pause in exchange for hostages. After more than two months of war, both sides appear to be signaling a second truce, after a week-long truce that freed 105 Hamas hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Ismail Haniyeh, is due to travel to Egypt with a Hamas delegation to meet with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel. The talks are to focus on "stopping the aggression and the war in order to prepare an agreement for the release of (Palestinian) prisoners, the end of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip," a Hamas source told AFP.
For his part, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Tuesday that "Israel is ready for a new humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid to allow for the release of the hostages." Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, after the Palestinian movement attacked Israeli soil on October 7 that killed about 1140,<> people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
Some 250 people were taken hostage in the attack, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. In the Palestinian territory, 19,667 people, mostly women, children and teenagers, have been killed by Israeli shelling, according to the latest toll from Hamas' Health Ministry.
Behind-the-scenes dealings
In a meeting with the families of the hostages on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had recently sent "the head of the Mossad to Europe twice to promote a process of liberation." "Our duty is to bring them all back," he insisted. Other negotiations seem to be taking place behind the scenes.
According to the Axios website, Israel has proposed, through Qatar - which had already mediated the first truce - a new pause of at least a week in the fighting in Gaza to arrange the release of several dozen hostages. So far, Hamas has made a halt to fighting a precondition for any further negotiations on the matter.
On Tuesday, Hamas' ally Islamic Jihad ratcheted up the pressure by releasing a video of two hostages alive, pleading for a compromise that would allow them to return to Israel. Tough negotiations are also set to continue at the United Nations on Wednesday, with the Security Council unable to adopt a resolution to speed up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The vote has been postponed twice, and members are looking for the right formula to avoid a veto by the United States, Israel's main ally. The text, which initially called for an "urgent and lasting cessation of hostilities" in Gaza, now refers to a "suspension" of the fighting.
Humanitarian crisis
On the ground, the shelling continues. Hamas government sources on Wednesday reported Israeli strikes in Rafah, Khan Younis (south) and Deir el-Balah in the northern sector of Gaza City, which killed at least 11 people, according to initial estimates.
The Israeli army said it was intensifying its operations in Khan Younis. It also said it had found explosives at a medical center in the Gaza City suburb of Shujaiya, destroyed Hamas tunnels and killed Hamas cadres in recent operations. The army announced the death of another soldier on Wednesday. A total of 133 Israeli servicemen have been killed since the start of its ground offensive in Gaza on 27 October.
Subjected to a total siege by Israel since 9 October, the Palestinian territory is facing a deep humanitarian crisis: most of its hospitals are out of service and 85% of its population, or 1.9 million people, have fled the destruction in the north of the enclave to take refuge in the south. According to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released on Wednesday, half of the population suffers from extreme or severe hunger, and 90% are regularly deprived of food for an entire day.
Although 127 trucks of aid and goods still entered the territory on Tuesday through the Rafah crossing through Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, these supplies fall far short of meeting the most basic needs of the population. Only 10 percent of the food currently needed has entered the Gaza Strip in the past 70 days, according to the report.
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We don't know where to go. Today, there is no water, no food, there is nothing," Nizar Chahine, a 15-year-old boy displaced by the fighting in the southern city of Rafah, told AFP. In Deir el-Balah, in the centre of the country, Youssef Journi despairs at the empty shelves of grocery stores. "If the war continues, you won't find anything in the shops, people won't even find a grain of flour to consume," he sighs.
With Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, tensions are rising
In addition to the situation in Gaza, the international community also fears an extension of the conflict to the Middle East. On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had targeted positions of Hezbollah, Hamas' Islamist ally in Lebanon, after intercepting gunfire from the neighboring country. Two reservists were lightly wounded after shooting at an Israeli position near the border, it said in a statement.
In Yemen, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have vowed to continue their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, which they say are "linked to Israel", despite the launch of a new multinational maritime protection force including 10 countries.
The attacks "threaten" the free flow of goods, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday during a virtual meeting with senior representatives from 43 countries held in hopes of mobilizing other partners.