Intense fighting and bombing in three key areas of the Gaza Strip, arrests and surrenders, and warnings from both the UN and relatives of kidnapped people have marked day 65 of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Every day that passes, more terrorists die and in recent days we see terrorists surrendering, which is a sign of the disintegration of the system (Hamas) and that we must put more pressure,” says the chief of staff of the Israeli Army. , Herzi Halevi, in the largest confrontation with the fundamentalist group that controls the Gaza Strip since 2007. A domain, however, that no longer exists in large areas of the north of the Palestinian enclave in the face of Israel’s massive land and air military deployment.
Halevi refers to the fighting in Jabalia and Shujaiya (north) and Khan Yunis (south) as well as the massive arrests. The images of Palestinians in underwear with their hands tied, including some new ones with rifles handed over, were not released by the Army. Although they receive a lot of criticism from abroad, some Israelis believe they have psychological value on the ground against Hamas and Islamic Jihad at a decisive moment in the war. However, National Security Advisor Tsaji Hanegbi criticizes it and states that there will be no more photographs of this type.
Israel alleges that the way the half-naked suspects were arrested was due to fears that they were carrying hidden explosives or weapons. “In recent days, dozens of Hamas terrorists have surrendered and handed over their weapons to our forces,” declared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sending a message to Hamas troops: “I tell you, it’s over. No. “Die for Sinwar (Hamas leader). Surrender now.” According to Netanyahu, “it will take more time, but it is the beginning of the end of Hamas.”
The Islamist group, for its part, denies that the detainees belong to its group and maintains that “it is pure propaganda.” “Showing photographs of defenseless citizens after their arrest and placing weapons next to them aims to create a false victory over the resistance,” he adds, ensuring that his operatives do not give up. The armed wing of Hamas confirmed that “fierce fighting is underway” in Jabalia.
According to Israeli Channel 12, “40% of the detained suspects who surrendered in recent days are terrorists and the rest are and will be released.” A conclusion of the interrogations indicates that “the Hamas leadership in the tunnels does not want to admit reality and there is a disconnection between the leadership of the armed wing and its members.”
Sinwar may not understand the exact level of devastation suffered by Gazans on the surface but he does know that his big goal today is a ceasefire whether thanks to the UN, US President Joe Biden or an agreement on the hostages. In this way, he would stop the unprecedented bombings and ground advances of Israel which, unlike in the past, seeks to destroy Hamas as an armed and controlling group in Gaza.
An objective that, for the moment, the United States fully supports, although with limitations (minimizing the number of civilian deaths as much as possible and increasing humanitarian aid). After exercising the veto in the UN Security Council to overturn the resolution in favor of an immediate ceasefire, the Biden government circumvented Congress to approve the emergency sale to Israel of almost 14,000 tank howitzers for more than 106 million of dollars.
According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, 18,000 Palestinians have died in the offensive launched after the jihadist group’s attack. Israel points out that “more than 7,000 terrorists” have died in the war, which since its beginning has an Israeli death toll of 1,300.
“They attack everything that moves. The resistance also counterattacks,” Hamza Abu Fatouh of Shujaiya told the AP. Residents of southern Khan Yunis report seeing Israeli tanks on Jamal Abdel-Nasser Street in the center of the city. Given the Israeli call for its inhabitants to move to Rafah, international agencies warn that the area will not be able to accommodate more people.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu warns that overcrowding creates “ideal conditions” for the spread of disease. “The health system is on its knees and collapsed. Its capacity has been reduced by a third,” he added in an emergency meeting in which he detailed that only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning.
The ‘Forum of families of the kidnapped and missing’ in Israel demands the cabinet to prioritize their release over the goal of ending Hamas and return to an agreement of several days of truce to allow the return of the 137 people in the hands of the militias of the more than 240 kidnapped on 7-O.
At 18, Liri Albag is the youngest in Hamas captivity. “For 64 days we don’t know where and how she is, if she is hurt, what she feels… How can I go to sleep if she is still in the darkness of the tunnels?” asks her father Eli in Tel Aviv and warns that The lives of all those kidnapped, some elderly or sick, are in constant danger. “The stories told by the freed hostages demonstrated the atrocities they suffer, the hunger, the humiliation, the physical violence and, yes, also sexual violence that a father cannot even imagine what is happening to his daughter.”
The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Mohamed bin Abderrahman Al Thani, has confirmed that talks to achieve a truce in the format reached three weeks ago were not paralyzed.
“We continue our efforts and hope to return to the agreement we reached for a pause and release hostages who are still alive (…). It is necessary that both parties be willing to do this. Unfortunately we are not seeing the same willingness that we had seen in the previous weeks,” he stated this Sunday at the Doha Forum in which he warned that “the continuation of the (Israeli) bombings narrows this window for us.”