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The USA and Great Britain have attacked Houthi militia positions in Yemen - it is the second coordinated military strike in two weeks.
© As1 Jake Green Raf/Royal Air Force/dpa
The USA is once again attacking the Houthi militia in Yemen, Israel is expanding the fighting in the south of Gaza - the situation in the Middle East is extremely dangerous.
Will efforts for peace succeed?
The overview.
Tel Aviv/Gaza/Washington - As Israel's army expands its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip, diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are in full swing.
According to a media report, Israel's government, which is under pressure and headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has now proposed a two-month ceasefire in order to free the hostages still being held by the Islamist Hamas.
Meanwhile, Arab countries are said to be working on a peace proposal under which Saudi Arabia would offer recognition of Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Another military strike against the Houthi militia
Meanwhile, the USA and Great Britain, with the support of other allies, have again attacked Houthi militia positions in Yemen.
In the coordinated military strike, eight locations of the Islamists supported by Iran were attacked, the allies said in a statement released by the Pentagon.
The EU states also want to participate militarily in securing international shipping in the Red Sea, which is threatened by new Houthi attacks.
They reached an agreement in principle on a military operation that, according to diplomats, should ideally start next month.
Fierce fighting in southern Gaza
The Houthi militia wants to force an end to the Israeli attacks in Gaza by shelling ships.
Eyewitnesses reported violent clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters in the west of Khan Yunis.
The city, located in the south of the sealed-off coastal strip, is considered a Hamas stronghold.
The fighting took place in the immediate vicinity of two hospitals and at tent cities for refugees from northern Gaza, it said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent relief organization spoke of dozens of deaths and injuries.
Large shipping companies are now avoiding the Red Sea because the Houthi militia repeatedly attacks freighters with alleged Israeli connections.
© AP/dpa
According to Israeli media reports, the military confirmed that it had made a major advance into an area in the west of Khan Yunis that it had not previously moved into.
The operation could take several days.
The aim is to render Khan Yunis's Hamas brigade incapable of fighting.
So far, 50 Hamas fighters have been killed.
The army said three soldiers were killed on the Israeli side.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in southern Israel on October 7th.
Report: Israel's offer does not include an end to the war
On the Israeli side, 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians.
Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 25,200 people have been killed so far.
This number, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, is difficult to independently verify.
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Israel has now sent mediators from Egypt and Qatar an offer for a two-month ceasefire, the news portal “Axios” reported in the evening, citing two Israeli officials.
According to the report, the offer does not involve Israel ending the war - instead, the military would simply withdraw from population centers.
The Palestinians who fled to the south of the Gaza Strip on the orders of the Israeli military would be able to return to the north.
It would be Israel's most far-reaching offer of its kind to date.
According to a media report, Arab countries are working on a two-state solution: Saudi Arabia around Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should offer recognition of Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state.
© -/SPA/dpa
During a week-long ceasefire at the end of November, Hamas released 105 hostages.
In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from prisons.
Since then, Israel's government has shown little willingness to make concessions for further hostage releases.
According to the Israeli government, the terrorists are currently holding 136 people, 25 of whom are probably no longer alive.
With the death of each hostage, criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu grows.
Arab states are working on a peace plan
Hamas had previously linked any new hostage releases to an end to the war.
To achieve this, according to the Wall Street Journal, Arab countries are working on a proposal under which Saudi Arabia would offer recognition of Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state.
The details are still being worked out, but so far Israel's attitude is negative.
Only at the weekend did Netanyahu make it clear that he was still against a two-state solution after the end of the Gaza war.
EU criticizes Netanyahu
The Israeli head of government received criticism for this attitude at a meeting of European foreign policy experts in Brussels.
In addition to the USA, Germany and the EU are also increasing the pressure on opponents of a two-state solution.
“All those who don’t want to know anything about it have not yet come up with any other alternative,” criticized Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the meeting with her EU colleagues.
Not only Israel, but also the Islamist Hamas rejects a two-state solution, according to which an independent, democratic and demilitarized Palestinian state should exist peacefully alongside Israel.
Hamas instead seeks to destroy the state of Israel.
US imposes sanctions on Hamas supporters
The US government has meanwhile imposed further sanctions against financial supporters of Hamas.
The State Department and the Treasury Department in Washington said the punitive measures targeted several people and entities that had arranged money transfers in the Gaza Strip, including from Iran to Hamas.
This also involves transactions using cryptocurrencies from the Revolutionary Guards, the elite unit of the Iranian armed forces, to Hamas.
Former Hamas hostages report sexual violence
According to Israeli media, several released Hamas hostages and their relatives report sexual violence during captivity in the Gaza Strip.
“At this moment someone is being raped in a tunnel,” the daughter of a freed woman told MPs, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.
The hostages “did nothing wrong,” she said.
Their mother, who was released at the end of November, said according to media reports that the terrorists treated the girls in captivity like dolls with whom they could do whatever they wanted.
“I can't breathe, I can't handle it, it's too hard.
It’s been almost four months and they’re still here.”
The girls in captivity were like her daughters, she continued.
According to the media, the woman emphasized that men had the same experiences.
“They can't get pregnant, but they're going through it.” Her husband is reportedly still being held in the Gaza Strip.
“I cannot understand how the world is silent.” There was not a minute of their 51 days of captivity in which the hostages did not experience abuse, the Haaretz newspaper quoted the woman as saying.
dpa