protests in Israel for the release of hostages, at least 17 dead in strikes in Gaza

Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday evening, December 14, in several cities in Israel to put pressure on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu with a view to obtaining the release of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. In the Palestinian enclave, civil defense reported 17 people killed in Israeli bombings.

In Tel Aviv, the country’s second city, a rally for the release of hostages took place, after more than a year of war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. “We all agree that we have failed so far and that we can reach an agreement now”launched actor Lior Ashkenazi to the crowd. “End the war, now is the time to act and bring everyone home”added Itzik Horn, whose two sons, Eitan and Iair, are still hostages in the Palestinian territory.

During the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, 251 people were kidnapped on Israeli soil. A total of 96 hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.

To Gaza, a school targeted

In the Gaza Strip, seventeen people died on Saturday, according to civil defense, in Israeli strikes. One of these bombings, on a school managed by a UN agency housing displaced Palestinians, left seven people dead.

“Israeli fighter jets targeted Al-Majida Wassila school, west of Gaza City”in the north of the territory, civil defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP), who affirmed that women and children were among the victims.

The school is run by the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), but like many other such establishments, it has been transformed into a makeshift shelter for people displaced by the war in the Palestinian territory, which has lasted for more than fourteen months. The vast majority of the population of the Gaza Strip has been repeatedly displaced. In a statement, the Israeli army announced that it had struck “Hamas terrorists who operated in a command and control center set up” in the school.

Mr. Bassal also said that in the afternoon another Israeli strike on buildings in the Deir Al-Balah municipality in the central Gaza Strip cost the life of the town’s mayor, Diab Al-Jarw, “as well as at least nine other people”. In a statement, the Israeli army said it targeted Diab Al-Jarw in a strike on “the humanitarian zone of Deir Al-Balah”accusing him of being “an agent of the military branch of Hamas”.

Negotiations for a truce

On Saturday, the signals multiplied on a possible resumption of negotiations to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an agreement to release the hostages, the main mediator, Qatar, having recently mentioned a new « élan ».

Another mediating country, the United States, announced on Saturday, through Secretary of State Antony Blinken, that Hamas seemed to have softened its position: “Now is the time to finally close this deal” ceasefire and release of hostages, Mr. Blinken told reporters during a visit to Jordan.

In Egypt, the third mediating country, the president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, met, on Saturday, the American national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and the American coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett McGurk , to discuss efforts to negotiate a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. “The meeting focused on efforts to reach a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza”said the Egyptian presidency.

Since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack, a single one-week truce came into effect in November 2023, during which 105 hostages were released. as part of an agreement which also allowed the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Since this truce, seven hostages have been released by the Israeli army, and negotiations for a truce have remained at a standstill.

The attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israel from the Gaza Strip resulted in the death of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count, based on official data and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli retaliatory offensive left at least 44,930 dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas health ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.