Israel carried out new deadly strikes on Monday in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, where it is fighting the Islamist movements Hezbollah and Hamas, after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi proposed a short truce in the Palestinian territory.
In a Middle East threatened with conflagration, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of Iran, General Hossein Salami, raised his voice against Israel, threatening it with “unimaginable bitter consequences”, after its strikes Saturday against military targets on Iranian territory.
At the request of Iran, which supports Hezbollah and Hamas against Israel, its sworn enemy, the UN Security Council meets urgently at 7:00 p.m. GMT to discuss the Middle East.
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. The next day and in support of Hamas, its ally, Lebanese Hezbollah opened a front against Israel, which degenerated into open war last September.
In the Gaza Strip subjected to destructive bombings and besieged for more than a year, the Israeli army announced that it had killed “dozens of terrorists” in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave where it has been leading since October 6 an offensive to prevent Hamas from regrouping its forces.
According to local rescuers, bombings continued in central and northern Gaza where three people were killed by an Israeli drone.
– “Hostages versus prisoners” –
On Sunday, Mr. Sissi, whose country is one of the mediators between Hamas and Israel, proposed “a two-day ceasefire during which four hostages would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners” held by Israel.
He did not specify whether he had presented his plan to Hamas and Israel but proposed to then begin “negotiations within ten days” with a view to a “complete ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid” in the Gaza Strip, in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.
According to Israeli media, Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea arrived in Qatar for new negotiations with CIA chief Bill Burns and Qatari mediators around a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, at least 42,847 Palestinians, the majority civilians, were killed in the Israeli offensive, data deemed reliable by the UN.
– Five dead in Tire –
On Israel's northern front, an Israeli strike killed five people Monday in the coastal city of Tire in southern Lebanon, authorities said.
Since September 23, the Israeli army says it has been bombing Hezbollah strongholds and launched a ground offensive on September 30 in southern Lebanon during which it said it lost 37 soldiers in the fighting against the Lebanese movement.
The latter announced that it had attacked Israeli troops with rockets and artillery on Monday at the Fatima Gate, a former closed border crossing in southern Lebanon.
In northern Israel, rocket warning sirens sounded several times.
After a year of cross-border exchanges of fire and after having weakened Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli army concentrated its operations in Lebanon by carrying out intense air raids from September 23, mainly on Hezbollah strongholds.
Israel wants to neutralize Hezbollah to stop the rocket fire and allow tens of thousands of displaced people to return home.
At least 1,620 people have been killed since September 23 in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data.
– Iran VS Israel –
Israel, which in recent months has killed the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah as well as several of their officials, claimed that the strikes against Iran were in particular a response to the attacks of these movements.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured that this first attack publicly announced by Israel against Iran had “achieved all its objectives”.
Israel had vowed to make Iran pay for a missile attack carried out by Tehran on October 1 against its territory. According to Tehran, these Iranian shots were aimed at avenging the assassination by Israel of the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, near Beirut, and that of the leader of Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh, in an attack in Tehran attributed to Israel.
“We are using all available means to respond firmly to the aggression of the Zionist regime,” said Iranian diplomats.
