Violence continues to rage in Gaza as dozens of Palestinians have been killed since Sunday during massive Israeli strikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Gaza on Monday, promising a stepped-up offensive against Hamas in the devastated and besieged territory.
This conflict also continues to fuel the risk of regional conflict. Iran, an ally of Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, accused Israel of killing a leader of the Revolutionary Guards, its ideological army, in a strike in Syria and vowed to avenge his death.
Triggered more than two months ago by an unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel, the war leaves no respite for Palestinian civilians threatened with famine according to the UN, despite urgent calls for a ceasefire.
According to the latest figures from the Health Ministry of Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, 20,674 people have been killed during Israeli military operations, the majority of them women and children, and nearly 55,000 injured.
The offensive, Israel’s deadliest against Hamas in Gaza, was launched in retaliation for the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on its soil on October 7, killing around 1,140 people, most of whom were civilians. according to the latest official Israeli figures. Palestinian commandos also kidnapped around 250 people, of whom 129 remain detained in Gaza.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, along with the United States and the European Union.
Before dawn on Monday, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Gaza Strip on a large scale. A strike near the village of Al-Zawaida (center) killed 12 people, and another killed at least 18 people in Khan Younes (south), according to the Hamas health ministry.
On Sunday evening, at least 70 people were killed in a strike on the al-Maghazi refugee camp (center), according to this source. The Israeli army, which said it was doing everything possible to spare civilians, said it was “verifying the incident.”
On the Israeli side, the army announced the death of two soldiers, bringing to 156 the number of its soldiers killed since the launch of the ground offensive in Gaza on October 27, 20 days after the start of the aerial bombardments.
Palestinian fighters fired rockets into Israel throughout the day, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system.
Despite growing calls for a ceasefire, a heavy human toll and a humanitarian crisis described as catastrophic by the UN and NGOs, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains inflexible.
“We are not stopping (…) we are intensifying the fighting in the days to come. It will be a long war,” he insisted Monday after his visit to Gaza, in front of members of his Likud party.
M. Netanyahu was interrupted during a speech in Parliament on Monday by families of hostages demanding their release, who chanted “Now! Now!”
“What if it was your son?”
“80 days, every minute is hell”, could we read on a banner held by the families.
In the evening, relatives of the hostages demonstrated in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv before a war cabinet meeting.
“Release our hostages now! At any cost,” one sign proclaimed.
Hamas calls for an end to the fighting before starting new negotiations for the release of the hostages.
The escalation of violence in Gaza continues to cause serious concern and raise many questions about the long-term consequences of this conflict. Human losses on the Palestinian side are already tragically high, with thousands killed and injured. The humanitarian situation in the region is also alarming, with a growing risk of famine for the Palestinian population. Calls for a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict are growing, but Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas continues to complicate mediation efforts. The international community must step up its efforts to help end this violence and find a lasting solution for Palestinians in Gaza.