Israel rejects inter-Palestinian agreement including Hamas, raids in Gaza

Israel has rejected Tuesday an agreement between rivals Hamas and Fatah on common governance of the Palestinian territories for the post-war period, & the time when the Israeli army relentlessly bombs the Gaza Strip.

“This will not happen because Hamas will be crushed and Abbas (Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas) will observe Gaza from afar,” said the head of Israeli diplomacy, Israel Katz, whose country has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967 and led a devastating offensive in Gaza in response to an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7.

“Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas,” added Mr. Katz. Mr. Abbas is the president of the Palestinian Authority which is based in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and refuses to stop its offensive in Gaza before dismantling the Islamist movement that took power in 2007 in Gaza, two years after Israel's withdrawal from this territory that it occupied for 38 years.

In Beijing, Hamas announced that it had signed an agreement with 14 Palestinian factions, including Fatah, which, according to the head of Chinese diplomacy Wang Yi, provides for a project to create an “interim government of national reconciliation”.< /p>

Buildings destroyed by Israeli shelling in the Jabalia Palestinian refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, July 23, 2024 © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA

The text of the agreement refers to a “temporary government of national unity, with the agreement of the Palestinian factions”, which would “exercise its authority and powers over all Palestinian territories” – the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank and Jerusalem -est.

These territories would form the state to which the Palestinians aspire and which is rejected by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Parliament passed a resolution against the creation of such a state.

– 39,090 dead in Gaza according to Hamas –

Southern Gaza Strip © AFP – Sophie RAMIS, Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA

Member of the Hamas political bureau, Hossam Badran affirmed that the involvement of China made it possible to “face the policy” of the United States, Israel's great ally and its main military support.

Mr. Netanyahu is in Washington where he is scheduled to deliver a speech to Congress on Wednesday and then meet with President Joe Biden on Thursday.

Washington has been irritated by the consequences of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, insisting on the protection of civilians and the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory besieged by Israel for more than nine months and threatened with famine according to the UN.

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Vice President Kamala Harris, expected to obtain the Democratic nomination after Mr. Biden withdrew from the presidential race, is also due to meet Benjamin Netanyahu.

On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel carried out an attack that resulted in the death of 1,197 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 116 are still being held in Gaza, 44 of whom are dead, according to the army.

In response, Israel launched an air and then ground campaign against the small, poor and overpopulated territory, which has so far left 39,090 dead, including 84 in the last 24 hours, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the government of Israel. Gaza, run by Hamas.

– Residents flee –

A Palestinian woman and a little girl ride on a cart pulled by a donkey following the Israeli army's evacuation order for parts of Khan Younes, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 23, 2024 © AFP – Bashar TALEB

With Qatar and Egypt, Washington is trying to relaunch negotiations for a ceasefire associated with the release of the hostages. An Israeli delegation is expected in Doha on Thursday.

The Israeli army is meanwhile continuing its operations in the Gaza Strip, including in areas from which it was withdrawn in recent months after having, according to her, dismantled Hamas, considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Tuesday, the bombings Israelis targeted Khan Younes and Rafah (south), Jabalia and Gaza City (north) where eight Palestinians including three children were killed according to local Civil Defense.

Palestinians flee the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 23, 2024. © AFP – Eyad BABA

The army ordered the evacuation of the east of Khan Younes, a town from which it withdrew at the beginning of April, saying it was preparing a new operation “against terrorist organizations” after rocket attacks towards Israel. Thousands fled the area in panic.

Hundreds of Palestinians also left Bureij (center) after a similar order from the army. On foot, by car, on trailers or carts pulled by donkeys, they fled, in the middle of the rubble.

“We were told that we could not “We only had an hour to evacuate,” said one of them, Mohammad Awad.

Palestinians cross a flooded street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, July 23, 2024. © AFP – Eyad BABA

The war has forced the majority of the 2.4 million Gazans to move, while according to the UN no place is safe in Gaza.

< p>On Tuesday, the World Health Organization said it was “very concerned” about possible epidemics, especially after isolating the polio virus from wastewater samples. According to her, 14,000 people could need medical evacuation out of Gaza.

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