Gaza will be left without water, food or fuel today, as announced yesterday by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the eastern Mediterranean, while bombing in the strip intensified and Hamas responded with the most intense salvo of rockets since the start of the war against Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
United Nations spokespersons increase the frequency of their alerts and toughen language to convey the seriousness of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but Israel maintains the “total siege.”
Ten days of war have brought the 2.3 million Gazans to the “brink of the abyss,” according to UN Secretary General António Guterres. Negotiations to open humanitarian corridors are intense, but do not yield any results.
The Rafah border post, in the south of the strip, not only remains closed but was bombed again yesterday. Trucks loaded with water, food and medicine wait to cross from the Egyptian side, but Israel does not allow it. Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, announced on Sunday that it would surely open yesterday. The Egyptians had everything prepared, but it couldn’t be.
Without water, without electricity and without medical supplies, hospitals can barely save lives. The injured number now more than 10,800, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. The dead exceed 2,800 and many more bodies are under the ruins of the bombed buildings.
The hospital system, says a WHO spokesperson, “is sinking before our eyes.” On the street, the population cannot wash themselves or clean the toilets. Infections spread.
One million displaced people need urgent attention. “We live in the worst of times,” said Martin Griffiths, UN humanitarian chief.
The White House’s diplomatic efforts to get Israel to protect civilians are not working. The good news is soon denied, such as that Israel had restored the water supply in the south of the Strip, that the humanitarian corridor with Egypt was made and that a partial ceasefire would allow the entry of aid. Nothing was fulfilled.
Blinken returned to Tel Aviv yesterday, where the afternoon was tough, as in Jerusalem and central Israel. Hamas launched dozens of rockets and alarms sounded several times. The parliamentarians were evacuated from the plenary session that opened the session in the Knesset. Blinken and Netanyahu, who were meeting at Kyrua, the military base in central Tel Aviv that is the army’s headquarters, ducked into a shelter. The Iron Dome interceptors went back to doing their job.
President Joe Biden could arrive in Tel Aviv today. Netanyahu invited him on Sunday. The decision has not been made or has not been announced. Reaffirming the solidarity of the United States with a country in shock, with a society that yesterday was informed that the hostages held by Hamas are not 155 but 199, is necessary. Step on Israel so that Iran and Hizbullah understand that he will protect Israel with whatever it takes, too. But the president of the United States cannot be linked to the human drama in Gaza. He needs a gesture from Israel, good news, that will benefit his reputation in the Middle East.
That’s what Blinken and Netanyahu were doing last night, locked in the Kirya in Tel Aviv with their advisors, looking for a way to mitigate the suffering of Gazans. Netanyahu, however, does not want to appear soft now that his reputation within Israel is in tatters.
The war, as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced, “will be long and the price will be high.” He acknowledged this in a press conference with Blinken and added: “We are going to win for Israel, for the Jewish people and for the values ??that Israel and the United States believe in.”
Values, the rules of war, respect for civilians are concepts that American diplomacy tries to get Israel to demonstrate in Gaza.
But Israel thinks more about its defense and how to crush Hamas as soon as possible. The air force does not relax the intensity of the missions over the strip. It also attacks Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon and military targets in Syria.
The situation is complicated in northern Israel. The municipalities that are less than two kilometers from the border have been evacuated. They are too close to Hizbullah projectiles.
The tension does not subside in the West Bank either. Four more Palestinians were murdered yesterday, bringing the number to 59 since October 7. There are more than 1,250 injured. The army fails to control the settlers, who take advantage of the tension to occupy more land.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, also cannot find how to lead his people. On Sunday, according to the official Palestinian Authority agency, he told Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that Hamas’ actions “do not represent the Palestinian people.” It was the first time that an Arab leader directly criticized Hamas. Hours later, however, the agency withdrew the comment.
Last night, Hamas called for the release of 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages. It was requested by the director of the Islamist group’s office of relations with Palestinians abroad, Khaled Meshaal, according to local media.
Also last night, Hamas released the video of an Israeli hostage captured in Gaza who is still alive and is among the 200 to 250 captives in the Strip, while the armed conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militias in the enclave continues.
“They have been taking care of me, providing me with medication. I only ask that you take me back home as soon as possible to my family, my parents, my brothers. Please get me out of here as quickly as possible,” said the hostage, who added that she had 21 years old and from the Israeli town of Shoham, in a video where she is also lying on a bed with her arm injured, while a health worker rolls a bandage around her.
The young woman, identified as Maya Sham, was kidnapped “early on Saturday morning” as she was leaving the party near Gaza where at least 260 people were massacred and others captured during the Hamas land, sea and air attack that It caught Israel by surprise.
She added that Sham injured her hand “seriously” at that time, after which she was taken to Gaza, where she says she was treated for three hours for her injury.
In response to the dissemination of the video, the Israeli military spokesperson said they had informed the young woman’s family a week ago that she was kidnapped. Furthermore, she accused Hamas of trying to “present itself as a human organization, when it is a terrorist organization that is responsible for the murder and kidnapping of babies, women, children and the elderly.”
The video was released shortly after Hamas released a video of its spokesman, Abu Obeida, announcing that the group plans to release foreign hostages held by the group in Gaza. Abu Obeida stated that these hostages are considered his “guests” and that they will be released when “conditions on the ground” are met. According to him, Hamas has captured 200 people, while other militias have at least 50 more.