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June 25, 2024 – 5:11 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) The Israeli army bombarded the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, where a strike killed ten relatives of the Hamas leader, according to Civil Defense. The United States is urging Israel to avoid a new escalation on the border with Lebanon.
According to the Gaza Civil Defense, the ten members of the family of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who lives in exile in Qatar, were killed in an Israeli bombardment on a refugee camp in Gaza City, in the north. Asked by AFP, the Israeli army did not confirm this information.
Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said the Hamas leader’s sister, Zahr Haniyeh, was killed along with nine others in the strike on the family home in the Chati camp. In April, three sons and four grandchildren of Mr. Haniyeh were killed in a strike in Chati.
The army claimed to have struck two sites used by Hamas in Chati and Daraj Tuffah, also in northern Gaza, targeting fighters who were operating “in schools” and accusing them “of being involved in the detention of hostages ” and having participated in the October 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the war, the latest episode in the long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Other bombings
According to an AFP correspondent, a strike also left five dead, including two children, near al-Chifa hospital in Gaza City.
In the south, two Israeli bombings targeted the center of Rafah, where military vehicles opened fire, while western neighborhoods of the city, bordering Egypt, were also the target of bombing and shooting tanks, according to witnesses.
“Uproot” Hamas
Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that the “intense” phase of the fighting was coming to an end, particularly in Rafah where the army launched a ground offensive on May 7, but that the war against Hamas would continue.
He repeated that the “objective” was “to recover the hostages” held in Gaza and to “uproot the Hamas regime”, in place since 2007. The Israeli Prime Minister also affirmed that after the end of this phase, Israel would be “able to redeploy some forces towards the north”, near the border with Lebanon, “for defensive purposes”, adding to fears of an extension of the conflict.
“Avoid an escalation” with Lebanon
The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, received Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in this context on Monday in Washington. He “stressed the importance of avoiding a further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic solution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families to return home,” according to his spokesperson, Matthew Miller.
Exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah, a powerful Islamist movement allied with Hamas, armed and financed by Iran, have led to the displacement of tens of thousands of residents of the border areas of southern Lebanon and the northern Israel.
Mr. Gallant’s visit follows a week of tensions between the United States and Israel, after Israeli criticism over delays in American arms deliveries.
“No more water or food”
The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has so far left 37,658 dead, mostly civilians, including 32 in 24 hours, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
Mr. Blinken “insisted” to Mr. Gallant on the need for Israel to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
“There is no more water or food. We are completely trapped,” testified Haitham Abu Taha, among the few Palestinians who returned to Rafah.
Nearly half a million people still suffer from “catastrophic” hunger in the Gaza Strip, which remains at risk of famine despite slight improvement in the north, a UN-backed report said on Tuesday .
“Widespread” looting and smuggling
The head of Unrwa, the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, denounced on Monday the “widespread” looting and smuggling, which “prevent” the delivery of aid which the population has “ desperately needed”.
UNRWA, in crisis since Israel accused 12 of its employees of being involved in the October 7 attack without providing proof, “has liquidity” until the end of August, declared Tuesday Philippe Lazzarini.
In Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu is strongly criticized for his management of the war, demonstrations are increasing to demand the return of hostages and the holding of early elections.
But attempts at international mediation are met with intransigence from both camps. Hamas is demanding a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, conditions that Israel has consistently rejected.
“Hamas cannot disappear, because it is an idea,” Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said Tuesday. “So we need an alternative idea, not just undermining its military capabilities. And this alternative is a local leadership ready to live alongside Israel,” he added during a conference in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
