After 22 months of war, Israel intends to take control of this city in the north of the territory and neighboring refugee camps, one of the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip, in order to dismantle what it presents as the last bastions of Hamas.
The Palestinian Islamist movement denounced on Wednesday “Aggressive incursions in the city of Gaza“And a”Dangerous climbing on the part of Israel“.
New phases of military operations
On the orders of the military cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the army, who currently exercises control over three-quarters of the territory, is preparing to launch this new phase of its operations in order to release all the Israeli hostages selected in Gaza and Y “overcome“Hamas, according to its displayed objectives.
The chief of staff, the lieutenant-general Eyal Zamir, “Approved the main framework of the army operational plan in the Gaza Strip“The army announced on Wednesday without any calendar having been given.
In the streets of Gaza-Ville, Palestinian families fled again, luggage and mattresses piled up on bikes or carts.
For several days, tanks have been progressing. […] The strikes are extremely intense and intensified.
“For several days, tanks have been progressing (…) in the southeast part of the Zeitoun district, destroying houses. Tank also advance in the southern part of Tal al-hawa“Said AFP Abu Ahmed Abbas, a 46-year-old man whose house was destroyed in Tal al-Hawa.
“The strikes are extremely intense. They have intensified and there have also been artillery fire since Sunday“He added.
“The explosions are massive, there are a lot of air strikes (…) The tanks are still there and I saw dozens of civilians flee“To the west of the city, also testified Fatoum, a 51-year-old woman who lives with her husband and daughter in a tent in Tal al-Hawa.
According to the civil defense and medical sources, 18 Palestinians, including several children, were killed Wednesday by Israeli bombings and fire, including eleven waiting for humanitarian aid.
Towards a ceasefire?
Israeli preparations coincide with the announcement by Hamas that a movement delegation arrived in Cairo for “preliminary interviews“With Egyptian officials on a new truce.
Egypt announced Tuesday to work with Qatar and the United States for a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where the war was launched on October 7, 2023 by the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil.
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Israeli plan “did not aim to occupy Gaza, but to demilitarize it“.
He had listed Israel’s objectives: “First, disarm Hamas. Second, all hostages are released. Third, Gaza is demilitarized. Fourth, Israel exercises preponderant security control. And fifth, a non -Israeli peaceful civil administration“.
Strong pressure on Netanyahu
The Prime Minister faces a very strong pressure from his public opinion which moves from the fate of the 49 hostages still retained in Gaza, 27 of which died according to the army, while abroad, the calls are multiplying to end the sufferings of the more than two million inhabitants of the besieged territory, threatened with a “widespread“According to the UN.
The attack on Hamas resulted in the Israeli side the death of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official data.
Israeli reprisals in Gaza have left 61,722 dead, mainly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.
