Tens of thousands of people demonstrated, this Saturday, August 9, to call at the end of the war in the aftermath of the Israeli plan for the conquest of the city of Gaza.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators went down to Tel Aviv on Saturday to call at the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, the day after the Israeli plan announcement for the conquest of the city of Gaza, the largest in Palestinian territory.
After 22 months of war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces very strong pressure in Israel and abroad to end his offensive in the Gaza Strip, where more than 2 million Palestinians are threatened with a “widespread famine”, according to the UN.
According to the plan validated by the Israeli security firm, the army “is preparing to take control of the city of Gaza”, an agglomeration largely destroyed in the north of the territory, “while distributing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat areas”.
On Saturday in Tel Aviv, AFP journalists present on the spot estimated the number of demonstrators, the hostage families for forum of 100,000 participants, to tens of thousands. The authorities have not provided an official estimate.
The demonstrators brandished signs and photos of the hostages still held in the Palestinian territory, urging the government to obtain their release.
“We will continue to you”
“If you invade certain parts of Gaza and the hostages are killed, we will continue to you in public places, during the electoral campaigns and at any time and anywhere,” Shahar Zahiro told AFP, a close to a hostage killed, in a “direct message to the Prime Minister”.
Hamas, which still retains 49 hostages, 27 of which are presumed dead, said on Friday that the Israeli decision to occupy the city of Gaza meant the “sacrifice” of these hostages raised during the unprecedented attack on the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israel on October 7, 2023.
The families of the hostages and Israeli activists in favor of peace with the Palestinians claim a cease-fire with Hamas to obtain the release of the last captives.
But within the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, the hard wing of the Israeli right and their supporters want to continue to occupy and annex more Palestinian territories, ignoring international criticism.
In addition to the disarmament of Hamas and the return “of all the hostages, alive and dead”, the plan aims to demilitize the Gaza Strip and place it under Israeli control before the establishment “of a civil administration” which would be “neither Hamas, nor the Palestinian authority”, said Mr. Netanyahu on Friday.
“We are not going to occupy Gaza, we are going to free Gaza from Hamas”, who has run the territory since 2007, said Netanyahu on X. Following the announcement of this plan, the UN Security Council will last a emergency meeting on Gaza on Sunday at 10:00 am (2:00 p.m. GMT).
From Germany, however one of the most faithful allies of Israel, to the European Union, via France, China, Russia and many Muslim countries, the announcement of this plan aroused international reprobation.
“New crime”
The president of the Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas denounced on Saturday “a new crime which is added to the series of Israeli crimes committed in the West Bank, including in Jerusalem”, stressing “the urgent need to take measures to put an end immediately”.
Currently, the Israeli army occupies or operates on the ground in nearly 75% of the Gaza Strip, mainly since its permanent positions in the territory along the border. Israel had already occupied Gaza in 1967 and established a set of 21 colonies, dismantled during its unilateral withdrawal in 2005.
On Saturday, the spokesperson for the Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Bassal, reported 37 people killed by Israeli strikes or fire, including civilians who were waiting for food aid.
According to Mr. Bassal, twelve people were killed and nearly 200 others injured when the Israeli forces opened fire on them while they gathered near a crossing point in the north of Gaza, used for the delivery of aid.
The Israeli operation in Gaza already made 61,369 dead in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN. On the Israeli side, the unprecedented attack in Hamas on October 7, 2023 had led to 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count made from official data.