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The war between Israel and Hamas has left 37,925 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to a new report released Tuesday, July 2, by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s health ministry. On the Israeli side, around 1,170 people died – also mostly civilians – during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, according to a count by Agence France-Presse (AFP) based on official Israeli sources. According to the Israeli army, 674 Israeli soldiers have also been killed since then.
250,000 Palestinians urged to evacuate in southern Gaza
The Israeli army continued on Tuesday to bombard the Palestinian enclave, devastated by nearly nine months of war, particularly the south of the territory, where it issued new evacuation orders. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates “about 250,000 people” are affected by these orders. The Israeli army also says it is continuing its operations in Chadjaya (North) and in the center of Gaza.
AFP images showed displaced families amid the ruins of the southern city of Khan Younis, fleeing once again on foot or crammed onto trailers.
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According to the United Nations, there are now 1.9 million displaced people in the Gaza Strip. In addition, the war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the territory, where 2.4 million people live in dire conditions. “disastrous”.
After launching a ground offensive on October 27 in northern Gaza, the Israeli army gradually moved south, where it launched a ground operation in Rafah on May 7, then presented as the final stage of the war. But in recent weeks, fighting has again intensified in several areas that the army had said it controlled, particularly in the north of the territory.
In Lebanon, a civilian killed in an Israeli strike
An official media outlet and a local official in Lebanon reported Tuesday the death of a civilian in an Israeli strike on a border village in the south of the country. Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Lebanese Hezbollah, which supports the Palestinian Islamist movement, has regularly exchanged fire on the border with the Israeli army.
Hezbollah announced that it had launched rockets into northern Israel “in retaliation for the death of a civilian”The Israeli army said it had intercepted « dix projectiles » among “about fifteen projectiles launched from Lebanon”adding that the attack did not cause any injuries.
Nearly nine months of violence have left at least 493 dead in Lebanon, the majority of them Hezbollah fighters and 95 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to Israel.
Fears that the violence could escalate into all-out war in Lebanon grew in June, but the fighting has eased relatively in intensity over the past week.
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Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to give in to “defeatism”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he did not want to “succumb to the sirens of defeatism”. “The war will end when Israel has achieved all its objectives, including the destruction of Hamas and the release of all hostages.”he insisted. Of the 251 people abducted in the October 7, 2023 attack, 116 are still being held in Gaza, of whom 42 have died, according to the army.
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Reacting to anonymous statements taken up according to him in the New York Timessaying that Israel would be prepared to end the war without having achieved its objectives, Mr Netanyahu assured that this “will not happen”. On Monday, he assured that “the end of the phase of elimination of the terrorist army of Hamas” was approaching.
Dozens of Palestinian prisoners released
On Monday, dozens of Palestinian prisoners, including the director of Al-Shifa hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, were released by the Jewish state and transferred to medical centers in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Salmiya said he had been subjected to “to severe torture” during his seven months of detention. “Prisoners are subjected to all kinds of torture”he accused. “Many prisoners died.”
The release of Muhammad Abu Salmiya angered many Israeli politicians. It took place without informing the“political level”denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described it as “serious mistake” : “The place of this man, under whose responsibility our hostages were killed and held, is in prison.”
The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, has invoked a means “to free up places” in prisons. The Shin Beth being “opposed to the release of terrorists (…) Hamas involved in fighting and attacks on Israeli civilians (…), It was decided to release several Gaza detainees who pose a lesser danger.”.
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