In full diplomatic offensive of the international community to deliver the humanitarian aid to Loop after 10 days under the siege imposed by Israel In response to the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, the Islamist movement made a move this Monday and demanded the release of 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the two hundred Israelis made hostages during his raid. This was stated by the director of Hamas’s office of relations with Palestinians abroad, Khaled Meshaal, in statements to Al Araby television. Hours earlier, the spokesman for the Israeli Army, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, announced that so far they have notified the families of 199 hostages that their loved ones are detained in the Strip, among whom are many elderly people, children and women.
Hamas’ request coincides with the dissemination of the first video of a captive of the Islamist group. “Hello, my name is Maya Sham. I am 21 years old and I am from Shoham. I am in Gaza right now. I returned early on Saturday morning from a party in Sderot. I seriously injured my hand. They brought me to Gaza and took care of me in the hospital here,” he explains in the recording, subtitled in Arabic and collected by the Israeli newspaper ‘Haaretz’.
At the diplomatic level, several international actors have redoubled contacts with Israel and Israel this Monday. Egypt to get much-needed humanitarian aid into the Strip. According to the Gaza Government Press Office, more than 2,808 people have died in the enclave and the number of injured amounts to 10,850, who must be treated in hospitals with almost no resources, since the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that less than “24 hours of water, electricity and fuel left” in Gaza before the “catastrophe.” During this Monday, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has returned to Tel Aviv with the message that his country is determined “to do everything possible to respond to the needs of the population of Gaza.” The European Comission He has assured that he is in contact “very intensely” with the authorities in Cairo.
The critical humanitarian situation denounced by those voices that can still communicate from the enclave has mobilized thousands of organizations around the world, in several countries and even in the European Union, accumulating trucks with humanitarian aid at the Rafah border crossing. This Monday, hundreds of Gazans gathered at this point in response to false rumors that those citizens with foreign passport They could leave the enclave. “Aid access is our absolute priority; we maintain discussions every hour with the Israelis, the Egyptians and the Gazans on how to do it,” said United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffithsin Geneva before traveling to the region this Tuesday to “try to help, working with diplomats from all countries.”
US aid
For its part, the Administration of the American president Joe Biden It is dedicated to supporting its Israeli ally. This Monday Blinken met with Netanyahu and participated in his war cabinet. Also when the sirens have sounded in Tel Aviv, both leaders had to seek protection in an air raid shelter for five minutes. During their meeting, “the secretary stressed his strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself of Hamas terrorism and reaffirmed the determination of the United States to provide the Israeli Government with what it needs to protect its citizens,” said the State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller. Although ongoing regional coordination to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to civilians and the US commitment to recovering hostages held captive in Gaza, there has been no mention of the need to protect innocent civilians or respect the laws of war.
Netanyahu has invited Biden to visit Israel this week, to which the American leader has not yet responded. “Accepting the invitation would demonstrate American solidarity with Israel, signaling to its rivals such as Iran, Syria and Hezbollah that it has the power of the United States behind it at a time of growing anxiety over a regional warbut it would also link Biden and the US with the bloodshed in Gaza,” analyzes The New York Times. Also this Monday Netanyahu spoke for the first time with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, by phone “about the measures Russia is taking to help normalize the situation, prevent a further escalation of violence and avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip,” according to the Kremlin. In turn, Putin has discussed the crisis with the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian Authority. The EU has launched a humanitarian airlift operation that will consist of “several flights” to Egypt with the aim of bringing supplies to humanitarian organizations in Gaza.
Violence at every border
Given the escalation of violence on the border with Lebanonthe Israeli authorities have decided evacuate 28 border communities for fear of further attacks by the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
For now, the number of dead Israeli soldiers stands at 293. The police said in a statement that the authorities have received the bodies of 936 citizens, residents and foreign workers who have died during the war. Some 615 bodies have already been identified and 494 have been transferred for burial.
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Furthermore, the tension has spread to West Bank where they have already at least 59 Palestinians killed by the violence of the Israeli Army or radical settlers. The military authorities have announced the arrest of 360 Palestinians wanted in all occupied territories, including 210 Hamas affiliates, since the war started last Saturday. Throughout the day the sirens have continued to sound in the southern towns of Israel, where fewer and fewer Israelis remain since the Army has decided to evacuate them as part of the preparation for the ground invasion.
Israeli troops have been preparing for days to enter the Gaza Strip by land and, therefore, have asked civilians in the north of the enclave to leave their homes. Many of them have decided to stay, since fleeing does not guarantee saving their lives. “Our responsibility now is enter Gaza, go to the places where Hamas is preparing, acting, planning and launching; attack them everywhere, every commander, every operation, destroy the infrastructure,” said the Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, on a visit to soldiers in southern Israel. “In a word: win”, it is finished. The imminent invasion of Gaza opens new questions about what the future of the enclave will be in the face of a possible occupation Israeli territory.