“The war will be long,” warned Benyamin Netanyahu to his government on Sunday, December 24, paying tribute to the 154 Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza on October 27. “We are paying a very heavy price for the war, but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” the Israeli prime minister said.
Israel’s military announced on Sunday that it was intensifying its operations against Hamas in the besieged southern Gaza Strip. After fighting which caused immense destruction in the north of the Palestinian territory, it explained that it was now concentrating its main operations, in search of Hamas leaders, on the large city of Khan Younes, in the South, where There are numerous civilians who have fled the war further north.
According to her, Israeli soldiers discovered on Sunday in northern Gaza, “an arms depot adjacent to schools, a mosque and a medical center”, which contained “explosive belts suitable for children, dozens of ‘mortar shells, hundreds of grenades and intelligence equipment’. The Israeli army also announced late Sunday afternoon the death of a new soldier, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed to 154.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean, is dire: most hospitals there are out of service and in the next six weeks the entire population risks experiencing a high level of insecurity food, which could lead to famine, according to the United Nations. 1.9 million people have fled their homes, according to the UN, or 85% of the population, many of whom have been displaced several times as the fighting has progressed.
“A Future of Hate”
Faced with heavy Palestinian civilian losses, the United States, Israel’s historic ally, is increasingly insisting that Israel favor more targeted operations in its war against Hamas, launched on October 7 after the unprecedented attack carried out on its soil by the Islamist movement.
Despite the vote on Friday by the UN Security Council of a resolution calling for the “immediate” and “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid, vital for the population of Gaza, it had not experienced a significant increase on Saturday. “In order for aid to reach those who need it, for hostages to be released, for further displacement to be avoided and above all, for these devastating human losses to stop, a humanitarian ceasefire is the only way out,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Sunday.
“War defies logic and humanity, and prepares for a future of more hatred and less peace,” he added. In Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are sheltering in makeshift camps, the population is rushing for insufficient food rations.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators are still trying to negotiate a new truce, after a seven-day break in fighting at the end of November, which allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners, as well as the entry into Gaza of important humanitarian aid convoys. However, both camps remain intransigent.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visited Cairo on Wednesday as part of negotiations aimed at a new pause in fighting, which would allow the release of more Israeli hostages, after a seven-day truce that ended on 1st December.