The bodies of two Israeli hostages recovered in Gaza, four Palestinians killed in the West Bank, critical humanitarian situation in Gaza… Le Figaro takes stock of the war between Hamas and Israel on Tuesday, December 12.
Joe Biden said Tuesday that unlike Washington, the Israeli government “does not (want) a two-state solution” with the Palestinians. “This is the most conservative government in the history of Israel,” said the American president, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “strengthen and change” the Israeli executive.
Also read: The United States asks Israel to spare civilians in Gaza
The Israeli army announced in a statement on Tuesday that it had recovered the bodies of two hostages in the Gaza Strip during a military operation. “During an operation in Gaza, the bodies of hostages Eden Zakaria and (soldier) Ziv Dado were discovered and brought back to Israel,” said this press release, without immediately specifying when this operation took place.
Hamas is said to be at “its breaking point.” This is what the Israeli army says, which is increasing its pressure on the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip this Tuesday, December 12. During the night from Monday to Tuesday, Hamas, in power in the Palestinian enclave, reported violent clashes in the center of the territory. In a televised address, the Minister of Defense of the Jewish state Yoav Gallant assured that his forces were retaking “its last bastions”.
The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, for his part, declared that the Defense Forces were “intensifying” their operations in the south while consolidating its presence in the north. On Monday, numerous strikes targeted the towns of Khan Younes, the new epicenter of the fighting, and Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where tens of thousands of people fleeing the fighting are massing.
Some 18% of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the UN announced Tuesday, based on high-resolution satellite images. “Additionally, there has been a staggering 49% increase in the total number of affected structures since the last assessment on November 7, 2023,” says the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT) from an image collected on November 26 2023 with the very high resolution WorldView-3 satellite.
It’s “hell on earth” in Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, said this Tuesday after a visit to the Palestinian territory. “Back in Gaza, a tragedy that gets worse and worse. People are everywhere, living on the streets, lacking everything. They beg to be brought to safety and for an end to this hell on earth. We are asking the impossible of our colleagues, in this impossible situation,” Lazzarini declared on X (ex-Twitter).
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) denounced on Tuesday December 12 the controls imposed by the Israeli army on a medical convoy in the Gaza Strip, which according to him cost the life of one of the injured. “We are deeply concerned by the prolonged checks and detention of health workers which endanger the lives of already fragile patients,” wrote on X (ex-Twitter) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO.
The convoy under the leadership of the WHO and with the Palestinian Red Crescent was stopped twice at an Israeli army checkpoint. And in Gaza City, one of the trucks carrying medical aid and an ambulance were hit by gunfire, the WHO chief said without specifying who fired the shots. “Some health workers were detained and questioned for several hours,” according to Dr. Tedros. “Following this delay, a patient died en route, given the seriousness of his injuries and the delay in accessing care,” accuses the head of the WHO, who with all the agencies of the UN calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The conflict is effectively pushing civilians into exodus: 1.9 million people have been displaced, or 85% of the population, according to the UN. The situation in the Gaza Strip is “apocalyptic”, warned Monday evening the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, for whom the level of destruction in the Palestinian territory is “more or less, even greater” than that in Germany during the Second World War. According to the UN, more than half of the homes there have been destroyed or damaged.
The United Nations and humanitarian organizations have effectively urged Israel to let more aid into the Gaza Strip. On Monday evening, the Jewish state announced the establishment of two additional checkpoints for the inspection of trucks before their entry into Gaza through the Rafah crossing. The measure should “double”, according to her, the inflow of aid. However, no other crossing points will be open.
This announcement comes before a special meeting this Tuesday of the UN General Assembly on the humanitarian situation in Gaza after the American veto on Friday of a Security Council resolution calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire “. “We still do not support a ceasefire because that would leave Hamas in control of Gaza, but we absolutely support additional humanitarian pauses,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the House National Security Council. White. The “humanitarian pause”, negotiated at the end of November under the aegis of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, allowed the entry of more humanitarian aid and the release of several dozen hostages and Palestinian prisoners. imprisoned in Israel.
Four Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said, with the Israeli army claiming responsibility for the “death of a number of terrorists”. They were killed in a drone strike on the Old City, as Israeli forces “continued to storm the Jenin camp, preventing ambulance crews from entering,” according to a Crescent statement. -Palestinian red.
An AFP photographer on Tuesday saw Israeli military vehicles entering the Jenin refugee camp and a drone flying over it. Requested by AFP, the Israeli army indicated that it had carried out an operation in Jenin which made it possible to discover “explosive devices placed to attack the security forces”. She claims to have seized weapons, ammunition and other explosives. “In addition, the forces identified and dismantled a ready-to-use explosives factory, located in underground tunnels,” according to a press release. “This morning, IDF (Israeli Army) (military) drones identified a terrorist cell launching explosive devices. The air force killed a number of terrorists,” the statement continued, adding that “dozens” of arrests have been made and operations continue.
At the same time, the American government said it was “concerned” by reports from the Washington Post according to which Israel used American-made white phosphorus munitions during strikes in Lebanon in October. Phosphorus bombs are incendiary weapons whose use is prohibited against civilians, but not against military targets, according to a Convention signed in 1980 in Geneva. Questioned on this subject, Yoav Gallant simply stated that the Israeli army operates “in accordance with international law”.
The Israeli military announced Monday evening the establishment of an additional inspection point for humanitarian aid before entering the Gaza Strip through Rafah, saying this would “double” the amount of assistance entering in the Palestinian territory. Located in Egypt, Rafah is the only entry point to the Gaza Strip that international organizations can use to deliver aid.
Israel stressed on Monday that no new access would be opened, but that the closed crossing points in Israel at Nitzana and Kerem Shalom would be used to carry out checks before sending trucks through Rafah. “This measure will double the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli army declared on the site X (formerly Twitter). The UN humanitarian agency Ocha said on Sunday that around 100 trucks had been entering Gaza every day since the end of a week-long truce on December 1, compared with the daily average of 500 trucks before the war.