Gaza: truce negotiations in Qatar, Israel carries out operation against hospital

The efforts of mediators intensify on Tuesday to achieve this goal. a truce in the Gaza Strip, on the verge of famine, where Israel is carrying out an operation against Hamas in the largest hospital complex in the Palestinian territory.

More than five months after the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement, NGOs and UN agencies continue to sound the alarm about the risk of famine in the besieged territory, become an “open-air cemetery” according to the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

The Hamas health ministry reported on Tuesday 78 deaths in the evening and night in Israeli operations across the Gaza Strip, including 15 people, including women and children, in Rafah, in the far south of the territory.

In this city, Palestinians mourned Tuesday at al-Najjar hospital over the bodies of their loved ones killed in an Israeli strike.

“During the holy month (of Ramadan), Muslims wake up in the morning with the meal of sohour. For us, sohour is blood,” said Ibrahim Jarghun, a resident of Gaza, in tears.

Food crisis in the governorates of the Gaza Strip © AFP – Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA, Paz PIZARRO, Sabrina BLANCHARD

In the north of the territory, the Israeli army also continued on Tuesday, for the second day, “precise operations to counter terrorism” in the Al-Chifa hospital complex in Gaza City.

She said she killed “more than 50 terrorists” and arrested “approximately 180 suspects”.

– Combats et bombardments –

Fighting accompanied by aerial bombardments took place around and in the complex, which the army had stormed on November 15 before withdrawing .

An Israeli tank in position along the border with the Gaza Strip, March 19, 2024 © AFP – JACK GUEZ

The Hamas Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday “dozens of martyrs and wounded” around the hospital and elsewhere in the Al-Rimal and Al-Nasr neighborhoods, without giving any details. precise figures.

Since the start of the war, hospitals in Gaza have often been targeted by the army, which accuses Hamas of using civilians as shields humans.

On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally established in from official Israeli sources.

According to Israel, around 250 people were kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, of whom 33 are believed to have died.

In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate the Palestinian Islamist movement, which has taken power in Gaza since 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization as well as the United States and the EU.

His army launched a massive air campaign, followed on October 27 by a land offensive which allowed it to advance from north to south of the small coastal territory and cost the lives of 251 soldiers, according to a final report on Tuesday.

Palestinians in the rubble of a building hit by a nighttime Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, March 19, 2024 © AFP – MOHAMMED ABED

These military operations have so far left 31,819 dead in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

After months of unsuccessful efforts mediators — United States, Qatar and Egypt — to reach a truce, the head of the Israeli intelligence services David Barnea went to Doha on Monday to meet, according to a source close to the negotiations, the Qatari Prime Minister , Mohammed bin Abdelrahman Al-Thani, and Egyptian officials.

– “Cautiously optimistic” –

M . Barnea left Doha on Tuesday but “technical teams” continue to discuss details of a possible agreement on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages, said Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al -Ansari, declaring himself “cautiously optimistic”.

Gaza: Israeli army calls for evacuation of al-Chifa hospital area © AFP – Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA, Jean-Michel CORNU, Hervé BOUILLY

At the same time, the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken must begin a new regional tour on Wednesday, in Egypt then in Saudi Arabia, as part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and increase the humanitarian aid.

In a telephone interview with US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed Monday that he was determined to “achieve all the objectives of war” in Gaza including “the elimination of Hamas”.

Despite international pressure, Israel is preparing for a ground operation in Rafah where there are crowds according to UN nearly 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them displaced.

– “Impending starvation” –

President Biden, who said he was “deeply concerned” at This perspective, requested the sending to Washington of an Israeli delegation to discuss “ways to target Hamas without carrying out a vast ground offensive in Rafah”.

Women mourn the death of loved ones killed in a nighttime Israeli bombardment, at al-Najar hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, March 19, 2024. © AFP – MOHAMMED ABED

Israel has imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip since the start of the war and controls the entry of humanitarian aid. This aid arrives mainly from Egypt via Rafah, but remains very insufficient given the immense needs of the population. It reaches the north with great difficulty.

The severe restrictions imposed by Israel on the entry of aid and the possible use of hunger as a weapon could “constitute a war crime”, the UN said on Tuesday.

One in two inhabitants of Gaza, or more than 1.1 million people, experiences a “catastrophic” food situation “, particularly in the north, UN agencies warned on Monday, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, referring to an “imminent famine”.

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