Strikes on Gaza, Washington threatens to curb military aid to Israel

The Israeli army bombed Thursday the Gaza Strip, whenù the United States threatens for the first time to stop arms transfers to other countries Israel in the event of a major offensive in the crowded city of Rafah, the Egyptian border.

This is the strongest warning from the United States, a close ally of Israel and its main arms supplier, since the start of the war against Hamas in the Palestinian territory , triggered on October 7 by a bloody attack by the Islamist movement on Israeli soil.

Thursday, an AFP team reported strikes and numerous shots from artillery in Rafah.

“Tanks and planes are firing”, testified Tarek Bahloul, a resident in a deserted street: “Every minute, we hear a rocket and we don't know where it will land.”

Defying international warnings, the Israeli army has since Tuesday carried out incursions described as “targeted” in eastern Rafah and taken control of the border crossing with Egypt, locking the main entry gate for convoys humanitarian aid to the besieged territory.

Displaced Palestinians in a tent camp in Khan Younes, in the south of the Gaza Strip, May 9, 2024 © AFP – –

The army said it had reopened Kerem Shalom on Wednesday, a crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, near Rafah, closed for three days after rocket fire claimed by Hamas.

But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, says it cannot receive aid: “We have not received any fuel since Sunday,” Juliette Touma, a spokesperson, explained to AFP.

– “Lost lives” –

The threat of a major offensive on Rafah and the closure of crossing points make many capitals and international organizations fear a worsening of the humanitarian situation in the territory, devastated and threatened with famine.

People search for bodies with a bulldozer at al-Chifa hospital in Gaza City on May 8, 2024. © AFP – –

“The situation is disastrous,” said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell on Thursday.

“If the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings are not reopened to fuel and humanitarian aid, the consequences will be felt almost immediately: resuscitation machines for premature babies will no longer be supplied, children and families will be dehydrated or drink unsafe water, the sewers will overflow spreading diseases In a word, time lost will soon become lives lost,” she added.

To partly compensate for the insufficiency of aid arriving by land, several countries are participating in airdrops, which Hamas demanded be stopped on Thursday after two new accidental deaths.

Photo released by the Israeli army on May 8, 2024 of Israeli forces operating in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip © Israeli Army – –

An American container ship loaded with humanitarian aid also left Cyprus for Gaza.

According to UNRWA, around 80,000 people fled Rafah after the army's call to evacuate on Monday.

< p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening to launch a major ground offensive on this city where, according to the UN, there are 1.4 million Palestinians, in order to defeat the last battalions of Hamas.

“The statements on the limited scope of the military operation in the eastern districts of Rafah are nothing but a lie, contradicted by (…) the air, land and naval bombardments which target all sectors of the governorate”, affirmed Hamas authorities on Thursday.

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Israel says it has taken control of Rafah crossing © AFP – Valentin RAKOVSKY, Hervé BOUILLY

Strikes also targeted Hamas military infrastructure on Thursday in Zeitoun, a district of Gaza City in the north, according to the army.

– “Difficult to hear” –

“Civilians were killed in Gaza because of” American bombs, President Joe Biden admitted in an interview with CNN, during which he for the first time set conditions for military aid to Israel.

Relatives of hostages held in Gaza carry an empty coffin during a commemoration near the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem, May 9, 2024 © AFP – Menahem Kahana

If Israeli soldiers “enter Rafah, I will not deliver to them the weapons that have always been used (…) against cities”, declared Mr. Biden, citing in particular “shells of 'artillery'.

Israel's ambassador to the UN said Thursday that the threat was “difficult to hear and very disappointing”.

A senior American official also confirmed the suspension, last week, of a transfer to Israel of “1,800 2,000-pound (907 kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (226 kg) bombs”.

Photo released by the Israeli army on May 8, 2024 of Israeli forces operating in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip © Israeli Army – –

The war broke out on October 7 when Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an attack against Israel, unprecedented in the country's history, which left more than 1,170 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report. established from official Israeli data.

More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 128 remain captive in Gaza, of whom 36 are believed to have died, according to the army.< /p>

In response, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched an offensive which has so far killed 34,904 people, according to the Ministry of Health of Hamas.

– Conflicting demands –

In Cairo, a session of indirect talks aimed at negotiating a truce and avoid an assault in Rafah, ended Thursday with the departure of representatives of Israel and Hamas, according to the Al-Qahera News media, close to Egyptian intelligence.

Destruction after a bombing in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on May 9, 2024 © AFP – –

The efforts of the mediator countries, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, “continue”, according to Al-Qahera.

On Monday, a few hours before the deployment of Israeli troops to Rafah, Hamas gave the green light to a proposal providing for a truce associated with the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.

But the two camps have so far displayed contradictory demands.

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from Israel's southern border toward the Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024. © AFP – JACK GUEZ

Israel responded that this offer was “far from its demands” and reiterated its opposition to a definitive ceasefire as long as Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization as well as the States -United and the European Union, would not be defeated.

The Islamist movement, for its part, is demanding a definitive ceasefire prior to any agreement.

According to a member of the Hamas political bureau, Ezzat al-Rishq, Israeli incursions in Rafah “aim to hinder the efforts of mediators”.

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