On another front, the Israeli army also carries out regular strikes in Syria against pro-Iranian groups including Hezbollah. The latest on Wednesday, in the thousand-year-old city of Palmyra, left 79 dead, the highest death toll in more than a decade, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In the Gaza Strip, Civil Defense announced Thursday the death of 22 people killed overnight by an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza City (north). Another strike in the night in the area of Beit Lahia and Jabalia (north) left dozens dead and missing, according to medical sources.
“Bodies arrive at the hospital in tatters“, Hossam Abou Safiyeh, director of the Kamal Adwa establishment, close to the strike, told AFP.
Mandates to “apply”
The Hamas attack which sparked the war in the Palestinian territory resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. That day, 251 people were kidnapped, 97 of whom remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.
The air and then land offensive launched in retaliation by Israel left at least 44,056 dead, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
Israel’s ally the United States on Wednesday blocked the UN Security Council from calling for a ceasefire, despite international calls for an end to the conflict in the besieged and devastated territory, plagued by to a humanitarian disaster. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, for his part, accused the ICC of having “lost all legitimacy“. “It’s a dark day for justice (…) for humanity“, Israeli President Isaac Herzog reacted on X.
The United States has themcategorically rejected“the decision of the ICC. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, affirmed that the arrest warrants must be”respected and applied“.
Also targeted by the court, Mohammed Deif is considered one of the masterminds of October 7. The Israeli army announced that it had killed him this summer, but his death was not confirmed by the movement.
“Total stop of the aggression”
Israel says it wants to move Hezbollah away from its border, to allow the return of some 60,000 inhabitants of the north of the country displaced by the movement’s fire. In Lebanon, tens of thousands of residents have also been displaced.
The American ambassador to Beirut, Lisa Johnson, presented last Thursday to the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and the head of Parliament, Nabih Berri, a 13-point plan providing for a 60-day truce and the deployment of the army in southern Lebanon.
Coming to negotiate on this project, the emissary Amos Hochstein judged Tuesday in Beirut that a solution was “within reach“. Israel “cannot impose its conditions on us“, however, posed Wednesday the leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem.
Israel, for its part, claims to be able to continue to carry out military operations against the Shiite militia to prevent their attacks, even in the event of a truce.
More than 3,550 dead in Lebanon
The Israeli army meanwhile carried out new airstrikes in Lebanon on Thursday on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, after calls to evacuate.
The pro-Iranian Lebanese movement claimed to have fired missiles at an air base near Ashdod, its first attack in southern Israel.
Violence between Israel and Hezbollah has caused at least 3,558 deaths in Lebanon since October 2023, most since the start of the massive Israeli bombing campaign on September 23. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians were killed in 13 months.
