The day after the abandonment of a truce by Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered the Israeli army to “prepare” an offensive on Rafah, the Israeli army intensified, on Thursday February 8, its strikes on the southern city of the Palestinian enclave. Accentuating fears about the fate of more than a million Palestinians who are stuck there, the majority displaced since the start of the war.
On the ground, witnesses and hospital sources reported deadly nighttime bombings in the south of the territory, with the Hamas-controlled health ministry counting a total of 130 deaths over the past twenty-four hours. According to a journalist from Agence France-Presse, the Israeli army carried out seven airstrikes in Rafah.
The United States on Thursday warned Israel of the risk of a “disaster” in Rafah in the event of a new offensive. “We have yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation and carrying out such an operation, now, without planning and thought in an area where a million people are sheltered would be a disaster,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.
The Hamas health ministry also announced on Thursday a toll of 27,840 people killed and 67,317 others injured in the Palestinian enclave since the start of the conflict. This assessment could not be independently verified.
• Hamas still says it is “open” to a ceasefire
Despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal of the terms of a ceasefire set out by Hamas on Wednesday evening, an official close to the Palestinian Islamist movement declared Thursday, before the start of a new round of talks in Egypt, that Hamas is still “open” to negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“The Hamas delegation will meet this morning with Egyptian officials, then a delegation from Qatar will join the meetings, and the Qataris and Egyptians will try to bring together the points of view of the two parties” via several rounds of negotiations, the latter explained to Agence France-Presse, on condition of anonymity. “We expect very complicated and difficult negotiations, but Hamas is open to discussions and willing to reach a ceasefire,” he added.
If he considered that elements of the response formulated by Hamas were “unacceptable”, the American Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who left Israel early Thursday afternoon, estimated Wednesday evening that there was “room left for a deal.” For his part, American President Joe Biden will receive King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House on February 12 to discuss “the situation in Gaza” and discuss “the idea of ??lasting peace through a two-state solution guaranteeing Israel’s security.”
• The UN warns of the destruction carried out by Israel which constitutes a “war crime”
The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights warned on Thursday that the destruction of buildings in the Gaza Strip near the Israeli border, carried out by the Israeli army, constituted a “war crime.”
“Destructions aimed at creating a ‘buffer zone’ for security reasons do not meet the criteria (…) of international humanitarian law,” Volker Türk said in a statement. He added that since October his services had recorded “widespread destruction and demolition”, including “residential buildings, schools and universities in areas where fighting is not or no longer taking place”.
Such destruction has been seen in recent weeks in Beit Hanoun and Gaza City, in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, as well as in the Nousseirat camp, and in Khan Younes, in the south. They seem “to have the aim or effect of making it impossible for civilians to return to these areas,” criticized Mr. Türk.
• Israeli army strike in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah commander
The Israeli army reported Thursday fire from Lebanon on northern Israel, seriously injuring a soldier. Since October 7, the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has regularly claimed fire against Israel, which retaliates.
She also confirmed to Agence France-Presse at the end of the day that she had carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon against a “commander” of pro-Iranian Hezbollah, a supporter of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Earlier in the evening, a Lebanese security source said a Hezbollah military official was seriously injured in an aerial bombardment that targeted his car in the south of the country on Thursday.
