Israeli Prime Minister speaks of “progress” towards hostage agreement
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday “advances” for an agreement on the hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the unprecedented attack of October 7, 2023 in Israel by Palestinian Hamas. “Not everything we do can be revealed, but we are taking action to bring them home. I would like to cautiously say that progress has been made and we will not stop until they are all home.”he declared during a speech in Parliament this Monday.
He finally affirmed that he wanted to sign new peace agreements in order to “radically change the Middle East”. “Together with our American friends, I intend to expand the Abraham Accords and thus further and radically change the Middle East,” he said during an intervention in Parliament, referring to the agreements negotiated by the United States in 2020 which saw Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan establish formal ties with Israel.
Police officer killed after inter-Palestinian violence in Jenin, West Bank
A police officer was killed this Monday in inter-Palestinian violence between security forces and armed men in the Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, local authorities said. This is the second agent killed in two days in this northern West Bank city, scene of intense fighting for more than two weeks between armed groups and the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over the territory.
Agent Mehran Qadous was killed “after being cowardly targeted by outlaws in the Jenin camp”, Palestinian security forces spokesman Anwar Rajab said in a statement. Usually rare, inter-Palestinian clashes have intensified since the police arrested several activists in the Jenin region. They caused the death, in addition to the two police officers, of three Palestinians, including two civilians.
Lebanon asks Paris and Washington to “put pressure” on Israel to “accelerate” the withdrawal of its army from the south of the country
The Lebanese Prime Minister called on Monday Paris and Washington to “put pressure” on Israel for “accelerate” the withdrawal of its army from southern Lebanon, almost a month after the entry into force of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The United States and France are part of the five-party committee, with Lebanon, Israel and the UN force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), supposed to monitor the application of the ceasefire and all potential violations. The truce came into effect on November 27, after two months of open war between Israel and the pro-Iranian Islamist movement. Since then, both camps have accused each other of repeated violations.
“So that the army can fully accomplish its missions, the committee must […] put pressure on the Israeli enemy to put an end to all violations,” declared Najib Mikati from the locality of Khiam, during a tour of the south of the country. For its part, the UN force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) urged the Israeli army to accelerate its withdrawal from southern Lebanon almost a month after the entry into force of a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
In Gaza, Kamal Adwan hospital targeted by Israeli strikes
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, in the north of the Gaza Strip, said his establishment was still targeted by Israeli strikes on Monday, which the army denies, and called for help from the international community “before it’s too late.” “The bombings did not stop throughout the night, houses and buildings were destroyed nearby. Since this morning, the hospital has been targeted by bombs dropped by drones, which continue to threaten our fuel and oxygen reserves.said Dr Hossam Abou Safiya in a press release.
“The situation is extremely serious and requires urgent international intervention before it is too late,” he added. “We face a constant threat every day. The bombings continue to arrive from everywhere,” insisted Dr Hossam Abou Safiya. “The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace people”. The director claimed to have received the order at dawn on Sunday to evacuate the establishment immediately, which the Israeli authorities have not confirmed.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army responded that it had no knowledge “of the slightest strike on Kamal Adwan hospital during the night”. Located in Beit Lahia, the Kamal Adwan hospital is one of only two still operational in the north of the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory ravaged by more than a year of war between Hamas and Israel.
Israel denies Oxfam investigation which says only a dozen humanitarian aid trucks distributed water and food in northern Gaza
Only around ten humanitarian aid trucks have distributed water and food in northern Gaza in two and a half months, the NGO Oxfam said on Sunday. This was denied by Israel on Monday, putting forward a figure of more than 2,000 trucks. “Of the scant 34 trucks carrying food and water allowed into the northern Gaza governorate over the past two and a half months, deliberate delays and systematic obstruction by the Israeli military have fact that only 12 managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians,” Oxfam said in a statement, a count that includes deliveries through Saturday.
Questioned by AFP, Cogat, the Israeli Defense Ministry body overseeing civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories, denied its figures, indicating that since October 2, more than 2,100 aid trucks had entered the northern Gaza Strip. “The Oxfam report deliberately and inaccurately ignores Israel's extensive humanitarian efforts in the northern Gaza Strip,” the Cogat said in a statement.
More than 45,300 dead in Gaza
The Hamas government's Health Ministry for the Gaza Strip announced Monday that at least 58 people had been killed in the past 24 hours in this Palestinian territory, the scene of more than 14 months of war with Israel. This brings the total death toll to 45,317, he said in a statement, adding that 107,713 people had also been injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement. Palestinian Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.
