The Gaza Strip must be demilitarized. Blinken confirms the imposition of sanctions on Israeli settlers

• Netanyahu: It is not possible to return all the hostages

Attacks on mineral water trucks, warehouses of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Aid, assaults by gangs, and mourning queues of civilians moving from northern to southern Gaza, and then again from Khan Yunis, the main city in the south of the Strip, with 200,000 people. Residents, even the Rafah checkpoint with Egypt, are closed, like all entrances to Israel.

Due to the lack of fuel, food, medicine and drinking water, Palestinians in Gaza are subjected to a new round of bombing and ground fighting, while Hamas artillery continues to fire rockets at Israel. Tanks have arrived on the outskirts of Khan Yunis, and for the first time since 2005, the deadly Kfir Brigade is deployed in Gaza, which works with engineers, armored forces and artillery in the north to “defeat the enemy and carry out additional military operations.” The Israeli army “has begun operating in the south,” warns Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant: “The fate of terrorists from the Hamas brigades will be the same as those in the north, if not worse.” Thirty tunnels identified and destroyed by Kfir attackers. Safe roads crossing the Strip are increasingly reduced, and for the Israelis, part From the north-south artery, Saladin Road, it is also a “battlefield,” and “travel is extremely dangerous.”

Humanitarian emergency

To the north and east of Khan Yunis, civilians are now in danger. There are a million displaced people pressing into Gaza, even from the main city in southern Gaza. Humanitarian corridors are also changing. Increasingly, the kilometers-long marches of displaced people, without fuel for their cars, cross a delicate escape network to the last supposedly safe areas in the Strip. The United States appreciates the Israeli progress, but at the same time it asks the Israeli army to establish free zones, free of fighting. The World Health Organization denounces: “Israel asked us to empty our medical warehouses in southern Gaza.” But Jerusalem denies this and confirms that it has already clarified this to the relevant United Nations officials.

The army blew up another symbol of Gaza, the headquarters of the Supreme Court, just as it destroyed Parliament (no elections have been held since 2006) and the Hamas police headquarters in front of cameras. At least 50 Gazans were killed in repeated raids on two schools, where the Israelis claim Hamas forces were holed up, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. Hundreds will be injured. According to the Palestinians, those who occupied the schools were only civilians displaced from the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City. Targeting Salah al-Din School, the UNRWA base, and Asad al-Saftawi School.

Victims

The number of victims and wounded counted by the Ministry of Health in Gaza is also increasing. With continued progress, the “documented” deaths that amounted to 15,899 yesterday could become more than 16,000 today, 70 percent of whom are women and minors. Once again, according to Ashraf Al-Qudra, ministry spokesman, quoted by the Qatari Al Jazeera channel, Israeli forces destroyed 56 health institutions, arrested 35 doctors and rendered the health system completely unusable. An unnamed UNRWA official says that the driver of the truck loaded with water was forced to leave the truck with its windows smashed and escape. It is also alleged that a group of people attempted to break into the UN agency’s warehouses, and police had to intervene by shooting into the air.
Tensions at the Rafah crossing with Egypt, where many families holding foreign passports do not surrender, sleeping on the ground and hoping to enter through the exit gates from hell. The black market is thriving, and a shop owner admits that he keeps 25 kilograms of wheat, which he can sell for 300 shekels each, equivalent to 75 euros, six times the normal value. However, Israel decided to continue allowing fuel trucks to pass through the crossing. In Khan Yunis, market stalls are empty. The fish was not found anywhere, after the fishermen discovered the danger of venturing into the sea with the Israeli naval bombardment. Hamas offers a complete ceasefire and is open to evaluating all options, including hostages.

the pressure

Negotiations continue in Doha “at a very high level,” and today the leaders of the Gulf states are meeting, while Erdogan (yesterday in Qatar, as well as US Secretary of State Blinken) intensifies diplomatic action and warns Israel that Turkey will not do so. It will tolerate targeted killings of Hamas leaders on its territory. Meanwhile, the Kremlin announced that Putin will be in Saudi Arabia first and then in the United Arab Emirates this week. Relatives of the kidnapped are also putting pressure on the Israeli government: “immediately return to negotiations” with Hamas. The threat is to intensify the tone of the protests. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office, which had initially scheduled a meeting with the families for next Wednesday, announced that it was trying to advance the date. The EU High Representative for External Relations, Josep Borrell, likens the October 7 massacre to “the massacre in Gaza” caused by Israeli bombing, but from the audience of the EU and NGO Human Rights Forum in Brussels, where he speaks, there are: those who They leave the room not listening to him. Finally, the Israeli Security Council drew up a list of countries where the risk of Jewish travel had increased, raising a group of Western countries, including Italy and other large European countries, to Level 2 (dangerous).

By Marco Ventura