The Israeli army continues its military operations in Khan Younes, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip presented as a Hamas stronghold with a basement studded with tunnels.
At the same time, the leader of Palestinian Hamas repeated this Saturday, February 17, that his movement demanded a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, as part of ongoing negotiations for a truce.
Le Figaro
takes stock.
A hundred dead in the Gaza Strip last night, according to Hamas
During the night, new bombings by the Israeli army on Palestinian territory left around a hundred dead, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
A figure that cannot be verified independently.
Israel has for weeks concentrated its military operations in Khan Younes, hometown of Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack.
100 people arrested at Nasser hospital for terrorism, IDF announces
One hundred people were arrested for
“terrorist activities”
in the Nasser hospital, one of the main establishments in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army announced this Saturday, which stormed this hospital.
The army said it found mortar shells, grenades and other weapons belonging to Hamas there.
Six patients, including a child, have died at the Nasser hospital since Friday due to power cuts which caused the cessation of the distribution of oxygen, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in power in Gaza.
“Newborns are at risk of dying in the coming hours
,” he added.
At least 120 patients and five medical teams are deprived of water, food and electricity at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes, he added.
The Israeli army said its troops entered the hospital on Thursday based on
"credible intelligence"
that those taken hostage in the October 7 attack were being held there and that the bodies of some of them were perhaps still there.
An untenable situation, according to doctors
Doctors at Nasser Hospital described an untenable situation.
Doctors Without Borders announced that its employees had
“had to flee, leaving the sick behind them”
.
“The situation was chaotic, catastrophic
,” Christopher Lockyear, MSF secretary general, told AFP.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Nasser hospital, one of eleven that remain open out of the 36 in the Gaza Strip before the war, is now
“barely functional”
.
“More damage to hospitals means more lives lost
,” declared WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic during a press briefing on Friday in Geneva, demanding urgent access to WHO at the hospital complex.
Explosions reported east of Rafah
Witnesses reported explosions in central and eastern Rafah on Saturday where at least two houses were targeted by airstrikes.
Egypt is building a camp to house Palestinian refugees, according to the
Wall Street Journal
According to the
Wall Street Journal
, citing Egyptian officials, Egypt is building a safe zone surrounded by a wall in the Sinai Peninsula to accommodate Palestinians from Gaza.
This camp is part of the
“emergency plans”
for the reception of these refugees in the event of an Israeli assault on Rafah and could shelter
“more than 100,000 people”
, according to the American daily.
Palestinian leaders, the UN and many countries have expressed alarm at the catastrophic consequences for the population of such an offensive and denounce the creation of a new generation of refugees with no prospect of return.
On Saturday, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, accused Israel of leading a
“concerted campaign”
aimed at
“destroying”
this institution.
Israel recently asked Philippe Lazzarini to resign after he claimed that one of the tunnels used by Hamas had been discovered under the agency's headquarters in Gaza.
Hamas leader demands ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip
The leader of Palestinian Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh, repeated this Saturday, February 17 that his movement demanded a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, as part of ongoing negotiations for a truce.
These complex negotiations including new releases of hostages are continuing through the mediating countries, Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Ismail Haniyeh reiterated in a statement that his movement
“would accept nothing less than a cease-fire, the withdrawal of the occupying army from the Gaza Strip, the lifting of the oppressive blockade and the provision of 'safe shelter for displaced people'
.
Hamas demands 'illusory', says Netanyahu
He added that displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip should be able to return there, and he called for the release of Hamas prisoners sentenced to long prison terms in Israel.
American President Joe Biden, for his part, pleaded Friday for “
a temporary ceasefire”
to allow the release of hostages held by Hamas since October 7.
He added that he had had discussions on this subject with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and that negotiations were
“ongoing”
.
The latter estimated this week that Hamas' demands were
“illusory”
.
130 hostages still held in Gaza, says Israel
The war was sparked by the unprecedented attack on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to a count of AFP produced from official Israeli data.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, in retaliation, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has left 28,858 dead, the vast majority of them civilians, the Hamas Ministry of Health announced on Saturday in a new report.
A figure that cannot be verified independently.
According to Israel, 130 hostages are still held in Gaza, 30 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on its territory on October 7.
A truce agreement in November allowed the release of 105 people, including 80 Israelis exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel.