While the Israeli Air Force continues to hit any objective that is related to the military and institutional infrastructure of the fundamentalist group Hamas, also with the objective of paving – or destroying – the ground for the ground offensive, the civilian population of the Gaza Strip hopes that a of its doors open today to receive humanitarian aid.
The green light from Israel, after pressure from the US, will allow the entry of between 20 and 30 trucks with water, food and medicine through the Rafah border crossing. For several days, different NGOs have been waiting in the Egyptian control zone to be able to enter an enclave radically different from the one they knew before October 7 when Hamas launched its most lethal attack and killed 1,400 people in southern Israel.
“The volunteers were very excited to go to Gaza in order to help them there with whatever it takes, but day after day goes by and they are disappointed and angry because they feel helpless, they want to help and they see that they can't get in,” lamented Heba Rashed. , from the NGO Mersal Foundation, by phone from Rafah to Efe.
According to the Ministry of Health controlled by Hamas, the hospitals of Beit Janun, Al Durra, Al Karama and the International Ophthalmology have stopped functioning. Its spokesman assured that 44 employees have died since the start of the war in a death toll that has exceeded 3,500.. “Beyond what is going to come in, fuel is also needed for hospital generators, ambulances and desalination plants,” requested the World Health Organization.
Every day that passes is a test of survival for a Gaza under bombardment in which a million people have already left their homes in search of refuge.. The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees set up tents in the southern area.
When will the ground offensive take place? This is the question asked by many of the tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers deployed near the border with the Strip.. Beyond the embrace of President Joe Biden, which is so close that it also serves as a means of control and restraint, the army does not want to rush because it is not just another escalation in which the objective is to end it in a few days or weeks at most. hit militias and restore calm in front of Hamas' Gaza. Now the goal is calm without Hamas in Gaza. And this requires different operational plans since ending both the regime and the armed wing of Hamas and Islamic Jihad may require months.
Israeli kidnapped
More reasons: fear for the lives of the more than 200 Israeli hostages in a densely populated territory in which the Tsáhal plans to break in with a very intense opening of fire, allowing a greater evacuation of Palestinians from the north to the south and giving more time to the Air Force to clean accesses, roads and infrastructure, some of them mined by the militias who, as one of their spokespersons warns, have been preparing for this scenario for years.. For example, with the famous tunnels that shield thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad troops.. And Whoever decided to send 1,500 militiamen to murder and kidnap in Israel took into consideration that the response would be enemy soldiers in the streets of Beit Lahia, Beit Janun and Gaza.
The Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, visited a meeting and preparation center of the Givati Brigade to advance the soldiers: “Now you see Gaza from afar and soon you will be inside. Continue training, the order will come. “The campaign will not be short or easy but in the end Hamas will be destroyed.”
“Almost two weeks ago, terrorists murdered our children, wives, parents and friends. They committed atrocities and broadcast them to deter us. There is no forgiveness,” he added.
Among the dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets bombed in Gaza including two buildings, the Air Force killed the head of the Islamist power's security service, Jihad Mahsin, the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees militia in Rafah, Rafat Harb Hussein, and the first woman to be part of the Islamist politburo in Gaza, Jamila Al Shanti. Born in 1957 in the Jabalia refugee camp, she was also known as the widow of one of the founders of Hamas, AbdelAziz Rantisi.. Aware of always being under the permanent Israeli radar for his participation in attacks, Rantisi once said: “I would rather die from an Apache helicopter attack than from a heart attack.”. This was the case in 2004 in a targeted assassination in Gaza.
24 hours after Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Israel to express his “strong support against the terrorist group Hamas”. Just as the US has done, the United Kingdom shows solidarity with the population of Gaza “kidnapped by Hamas” and reinforces its military presence in the region.
The Israeli army has increased by 203 the number of kidnapped people held by Hamas, including 30 children and between 10 and 20 elderly people.. An unprecedented figure that varies depending on Intelligence and especially the discovery of bodies of missing persons.. One of the bodies found yesterday was that of Nitzan, a 19-year-old young man who was murdered like his father.. A relative of yours who gave us an interview a few days ago expected you to be among the hostages.. “They found the body in the Kfar Aza Kibbutz that was razed by terrorists. My heart is broken and I feel angry and sad,” he now tells EL MUNDO on the same day the bodies of the autistic girl Noya Dan (12) were found. ) and his grandmother Carmela (80) murdered by Hamas. It is estimated that there are still between 100 and 200 missing.
Agents from special units are permanently in the southern area due to the more than likely presence of Hamas sleeper cells. They would be among those who, after their massive infiltration, did not manage to return to Gaza nor were they killed or detained in Israel, which yesterday was once again the target of the projectiles fired by Hamas.