Israel launched new air strikes against Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, at a time when complicated talks are beginning in Cairo to try to establish a truce on the Palestinian territory.
Le Figaro
takes stock of the situation.
In the West Bank, a “terrorist” attack leaves six injured, according to Israeli doctors
Six people were shot and injured Thursday in an attack in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli doctors reported, with police calling it a “
terrorist
” act.
Police said that “
two terrorists
” had been “
neutralized
” after the attack which occurred near the settlement of Maale Adumim, on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Some of the injured are in serious condition, according to the emergency medical service.
Rafah bombed
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the Israeli air force carried out around ten strikes on the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, noted an AFP journalist.
According to Hamas, 99 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip.
Rafah is the
“last bastion”
of Hamas in the eyes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu determined, despite international protests, to launch a ground offensive there.
Read alsoGaza: in Rafah, the Israeli army faces the prospect of a final high-risk assault
According to the UN, 2.2 million people, the vast majority of Gaza's population, are threatened with famine.
The international community is particularly concerned about the fate of nearly 1.5 million Palestinians massed in this city located on the closed border with Egypt.
An advisor to Joe Biden in the Middle East to negotiate an agreement
American President Joe Biden's adviser for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, is expected in Israel on Thursday after a stop in Egypt where new talks with a view to a truce are being held.
“We want an agreement to be reached (...) as quickly as possible
,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told the press.
The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismaïl Haniyeh, based in Qatar, is currently in Cairo.
On the agenda for discussions, the first phase of a plan designed by the mediating countries - Qatar, the United States and Egypt -, which provides for a six-week truce, associated with an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and the entry into Gaza of a large quantity of humanitarian aid.
Read alsoMiddle East: Israel seeking a truce with Hamas
A resolution passed in Israel against the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state
On Wednesday, the Israeli parliament overwhelmingly voted for a resolution proposed by Benjamin Netanyahu opposing any
“unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state”
, which according to the text would amount to rewarding the
“unprecedented terrorism”
of Hamas.
A few days earlier, the
Washington Post
reported that the United States and several Arab allies were working on a comprehensive plan intended to establish lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace after the end of the war between Israel and Hamas, including a timetable for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.
Divisions within the G20
International differences were on display again on Wednesday during a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Brazil.
The head of Brazilian diplomacy Mauro Vieira deplored
“the unacceptable paralysis of the Security Council”
particularly regarding Gaza, where the United States, allies of Israel, vetoed the day before a draft resolution which demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
For its part, the United States criticized the controversial remarks of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust.
Alarming humanitarian situation, NGOs affected by strikes
The humanitarian situation is particularly alarming in the north of Gaza, prey
to “chaos and violence”
, according to the World Food Program (WFP), which suspended the distribution of its aid there on Tuesday.
Subject to the green light from Israel, aid enters Gaza mainly through Rafah via Egypt, but its transport to the north is made almost impossible by the destruction and fighting.
Also read “All the seriously injured are left for dead”: French doctors returning from Gaza recount the hell of the war
In the south, in Khan Younes, scene in recent weeks of ground fighting, shooting and air raids, an Israeli tank, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), fired late Tuesday on a house sheltering some employees of the NGO , killing two members of the family of one of them.
MSF denounced this strike
“with the greatest firmness”
on Wednesday .
The Israeli army expressed its regret, telling AFP that it had fired on a building
“identified”
as harboring
“terrorist activities”
, but that afterwards
“reports emerged of the deaths of two uninvolved civilians”.
in these alleged activities.
In the same city, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported
“multiple attacks”
against the Al-Amal hospital hit by Israeli artillery fire.
UNRWA in turmoil again
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the main humanitarian aid organization in the Gaza Strip, is facing a new controversy.
The mother of Yonatan Samerano, a 21-year-old Israeli killed in the October 7 attack, accused an UNRWA employee on Wednesday of taking his remains to Gaza.
Read alsoIn Israel's sights, UNRWA plays for its survival
“How could the UN pay (the salary) of a man who dragged the thin body on the ground and then took it as if it were a reward for Gaza?”
, indignant Ayelet Samerano, during a press conference in Tel Aviv.
Several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, suspended funding to UNRWA after Israeli accusations that 12 of its employees were involved in the October 7 attack.
For its part, United Airlines announced the resumption of its flights to Israel starting next month, becoming the first American airline to make such a return since the October 7 attack.