Last updated: 20.12.2023, 05:39 a.m.
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Civil Defense operatives carry out search and rescue operations in the rubble of an apartment building in the Gaza Strip. © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
The Gaza war rages on, and it is a horror for the hundreds of thousands of civilians. Israel and Hamas are reportedly negotiating a new ceasefire. The overview.
Tel Aviv/Gaza - There are increasing signs of a new ceasefire in the Gaza war. Israel has offered a ceasefire of at least a week in the ongoing negotiations for the release of more hostages from the violence of the Islamist Hamas, according to a media report.
As the news portal "Axios" reported, Israel expects Hamas to release more than three dozen hostages in return. The day before, Israel's President Izchak Herzog himself had held out the prospect of a new pause in the fighting. The UN Security Council, meanwhile, again postponed a vote on a new resolution on the war at the request of the United States.
Israel: Release of hostages for ceasefire
In exchange for a new ceasefire, Israel expects the release of the remaining women still held in Gaza, as well as men over 60 years of age and other hostages who are sick or seriously wounded and in urgent need of medical attention, Axios reported, citing two Israeli officials and another informed source. During a week-long ceasefire in November, 105 hostages were released. According to Israeli estimates, at least 109 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip. Hamas also refuses to hand over the bodies of several abducted people.
Reports: Islamic Jihad Releases Hostage Video
After Hamas, according to Israeli media reports, the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad has now also published a video of Israeli hostages. A 79-year-old man and a 47-year-old man can be seen in the video, the Times of Israel reported on Tuesday evening. Both men warned that they could die at any moment as a result of the Israeli military's attacks, it said. Under what circumstances the video was made and when it was filmed was initially unclear. The news site Ynet also reported on the video. According to the report, the men were abducted from a kibbutz in the border area to the Gaza Strip on October 7.
Meanwhile, the US is insisting on the beginning of a new phase in the Gaza war. Israel's army is currently fighting with "high intensity", but in the future there will be more targeted operations against the Islamist Hamas in the sealed coastal strip, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a recent visit to Tel Aviv. He did not say when exactly the new phase will begin. According to the media, however, this is expected in the next few weeks.
Report: Israel Considers Humanitarian Camp
Israel is considering setting up a humanitarian camp after the end of the current phase of fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. As reported by the US television channel CNN, citing two Israeli officials and a representative of international humanitarian aid operations familiar with the plans, the planning is still in the early stages. But it is the first indication that Israel is thinking about how Palestinian civilians can return to the northern Gaza Strip.
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There, Israel's army has now captured the Hamas stronghold of Jabalia, according to its own account. "Operational control" over the site has been achieved, it said on Tuesday. Defense Minister Joav Galant now wants to expand the ground offensive. According to the Times of Israel, it could be the center of Gaza or the city of Rafah in the south, where the border crossing with Egypt is located.
More foreigners have left Gaza
From there, aid shipments reach Gaza, even if, according to aid organizations, they are far from sufficient to provide the civilian population with sufficient supplies. On Tuesday, about 100 more foreigners and Palestinians with second passports left for Egypt through the crossing, including about 20 Germans, according to a list compiled by the Palestinian Border Authority.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council now wants to vote on a resolution today, as diplomats told the German Press Agency. The paper presented by the United Arab Emirates demands, among other things, a suspension of violence in the Gaza Strip in order to allow more humanitarian aid deliveries. Aid organizations speak of a "humanitarian catastrophe".
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 19,600 people have been killed in the fighting in Gaza so far. The information cannot be independently verified at this time. It was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, in which terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups murdered more than 7,1200 people in Israel on October 240. Around <> people were deported to Gaza.
Israel attacks position in Lebanon
Meanwhile, the Israeli army again intercepted several rockets from Lebanon in northern Israel and fired at the launch site. As the army announced late on Tuesday evening, a fighter jet then fired at both the rocket launcher and a "terrorist cell". In addition, a military facility of the Hezbollah militia was hit.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, there have been repeated confrontations between Israel's army and militant groups such as Hezbollah. Israel's military had warned Hezbollah, which has close ties to Iran, the day before of an intensification of hostilities on the border. "We are closer to war today than we were yesterday," a military spokesman said.
What is becoming important today
The UN Security Council is planning a vote on a new Gaza resolution, which has already been postponed several times. The paper presented by the United Arab Emirates demands, among other things, a suspension of violence in the Gaza Strip in order to allow more humanitarian aid deliveries. After attacks on ships by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, the US government hopes that other countries will join the new military alliance it has initiated to protect ships in the Red Sea. According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Germany is considering a request for participation. Dpa