Israel and Hamas at war, day 261 | Bombings in Gaza, an Israeli emissary in Washington

Israeli bombings targeted the Gaza Strip devastated by more than eight months of war on Sunday, at a time when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the United States in the midst of an arms dispute between the two allies. .

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting in Israel, where tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday evening to denounce the conduct of the war by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and call for the return of hostages still held in Gaza.

The war was sparked by an unprecedented bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, during which dozens of people were kidnapped and taken to the neighboring Gaza Strip.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, and launched a major offensive against the Palestinian territory which has been besieged since October 9 by the Israeli army.

According to witnesses, shells again targeted the east, west and center of the town of Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday, where the Israeli army has been carrying out a ground offensive since May 7. Airstrikes hit Gaza City (north) and tanks bombarded the Nousseirat camp (center).

Combat aircraft carried out raids on Saturday against “dozens of terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip, including military structures and infrastructure,” the Israeli army said, reporting “targeted operations” in Rafah . “Terrorists were eliminated in close combat and by sniper and drone fire” in central Gaza.

“Crucial” talks in Washington

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. That day, 251 people were kidnapped. In total, 116 are still held in Gaza, 41 of whom have died according to the army.

Israeli military operations in Gaza have left 37,598 dead so far, including at least 47 in the past 24 hours, mostly civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the local Hamas-led government.

While the relationship between Mr. Netanyahu and the White House is experiencing a new episode of tension, Yoav Gallant left for Washington, in order, according to him, “to discuss developments in Gaza and Lebanon.”

Israel’s northern front, along with Lebanon, has been the scene of escalating fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and bellicose rhetoric between the two sides has raised fears of a full-scale war .

On Sunday, the Shiite movement supported by Iran announced that it had targeted two Israeli military sites using explosive drones, seriously injuring a soldier, in response to the death of a leader of an allied Islamist group, in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon.

The movement also published a new video showing what it presents as sites in Israel with their coordinates, without identifying them, five days after revealing images of Haifa taken according to it by a drone which flew over this large northern port of Israel.

Referring to relations with Washington, Mr. Gallant assured in a press release that “links with the United States are more important than ever”. “Our talks with American officials are crucial to [la suite] of the war,” he said.

There is also the dispute over deliveries of American weapons, after Benjamin Netanyahu criticized a delay in their transfer to Israel.

But on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu declared that this “dispute” with Washington will be “resolved in the near future” during a meeting of his government. “ […] In light of what I have heard over the past few days, I hope and believe that this issue will be resolved in the near future. »

“Drive out this government”

Mr Netanyahu, who says Israel is engaged in a “war for its existence”, is under pressure at home.

On Saturday in Tel Aviv, more than 150,000 people according to organizers chanted slogans against the Netanyahu government, demanding early elections and the return of hostages, the largest gathering since the start of the war.

“The only way to achieve change here is to oust this government, to oust the extremists,” said Maya Fischer, a 36-year-old protester. “It is time to end the war, bring back the hostages and save lives, both on the Israeli and Palestinian sides. »

Negotiations for a ceasefire have stalled and Mr. Netanyahu says he will continue the war until the destruction of Hamas, which he considers terrorist along with the United States and the European Union .

In the Palestinian territory, where some 2.4 million people are crowded together, the Israeli offensive has caused a humanitarian disaster with a threat of famine according to the UN.

More than a million people are constantly on the move “in the hope of finding a safe place in the Gaza Strip when no place there is safe”, said the World Health Organization.