Israel intensifies its offensive in southern Gaza Palestinian poet Refaat Alir was threatened and killed along with his family

The Israeli army intensified its offensive this Friday to control Khan YounisA city in the south Gaza Strip They consider the main stronghold of Hamas in the Palestinian territories, where hundreds of people continue to die every day.

It is a swift, powerful and focused operation, as defined in a military statement that exemplifies it They move “from tunnel to tunnel, from house to house.”. “Troops of 98 Division killed dozens of terrorists, conducted searches, destroyed tunnels and carried out precision strikes by land and air,” he explained.

As part of their strategy to break Hamas lines, Israeli forces hit dozens of its missile launch positions and observation points, while encircling the city. “In a series of raids, soldiers found a number of weapons including rocket and mortar missiles, explosives and intelligence materials in a school,” the note added.

Two Israeli soldiers critically injured in failed Gaza hostage rescue operation, the army said in another statement. Of the 240 people captured by the Islamist group after the October 7 terror attacks that killed 1,200 people, at least 137 are still alive in captivity.

Destruction and deaths

Israeli bombing destroyed Gaza’s Al Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest, built on the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church in the 7th century under the leadership of the second Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab. “This mosque is one of the most important Islamic and historical monuments in Gaza, and its destruction by the occupation is part of the barbaric Israeli occupation, which does not exclude the city’s main monuments,” Gazan authorities condemned in a statement. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was asked to intervene and condemn Israel’s actions against Palestinian symbols, symbols and heritage.

According to the latest balance sheet of the Gaza Ministry of Health, The death toll has risen to 17,487 — 70 percent of whom were women and children — 46,480 people were injured. Among those who died in the final hours was the Palestinian poet Refaat Alair, one of the most active voices for the Palestinian cause.. “Israeli intelligence received a phone call to locate Refaat at the school where he had taken refuge. They told him they were going to kill him. He left the school to avoid endangering others, and his apartment was bombed at 6 p.m. His sister, where he, his sister and four of his children died. ” explained Rami Abdu, director of the Euro-Mediterranean Monitor, a pro-human rights organization, in a message posted on the social network X.

Prisoners

Israel has vowed to search for alleged Hamas members among those detained in Gaza Pictures of dozens of them half-naked, blindfolded and handcuffed circulated on social media and in Palestinian media.. Israeli government spokeswoman Eylon Levy told a press conference that the detainees were of military age and were found in war zones where civilians were said to have been evacuated. Arrested They were investigated whether they were Hamas terrorists or notBecause they dress informally, they use civilians for their terrorist purposes, Levy asserted.

Criticism of this situation did not take long. “The images we have seen are very disturbing, because everyone has a fundamental right to human dignity, and the images of how people are treated are very disturbing,” UN Secretary-General’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Photos and videos show dozens of men in their underwear sitting on the ground or kneeling in streets and open spaces, surrounded by Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles guarding them, while others are piled into an army truck. . One of the people detained for broadcasting content is a Palestinian journalist, prompting his employers to accuse Israel of carrying out invasive searches and humiliating civilians.

The ineffectiveness of the Security Council

The United States has made it clear that it will not support UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for a ceasefire in Gaza., as revealed by its representative Robert Wood before the UN Security Council. “We do not support the call for an immediate ceasefire. That will only sow the seeds for another war because Hamas does not want a sustainable peace or a two-state solution,” Wood said. “If Israel lays down its arms today, as some member states are calling for, Hamas will continue to hold hostages, women and children, the elderly and the small, many of whom will be treated inhumanely and cruelly,” he added.

Wood threw thus A bucket of cold water for expectations that the organization will recognize this call for a permanent ceasefire, a resolution put forward by the United Arab Emirates received the support of all Arab and Islamic countries except Russia, China and France. Just before the US representative spoke, Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan strongly opposed the ceasefire, insisting that “the real path to peace is to support Israel’s mission, not call for a ceasefire.”

It is worth clarifying that in the two-month war, the Security Council voted on several occasions for other resolutions to end the war, overriding the vetoes of the United States and Russia, and it was only able to agree on November 15. Call for humanitarian pauses to provide aid to Gazans However, the only cease-fire declared during these two months, which lasted seven days, was not the result of that resolution, but rather the result of indirect negotiations between the sides of the conflict – with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States – to exchange hostages. Hamas held for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

The NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reported the situation in the Strip to the UN. Criticized the agency’s inaction.. “The inaction of the United Nations Security Council and vetoes by member states, particularly the United States, are complicit in the ongoing carnage,” he said in a statement.

West Bank and Lebanon

Apart from Gaza, violence is also reproduced daily on other fronts In the West Bank, at least six Palestinians, including a minor, were killed in clashes with Israeli forces., in which one soldier was injured. According to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), two youths, aged 14 and 36, were killed in the clashes in al-Fara refugee camp.

Meanwhile, The Israeli military announced that it had successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial object that crossed its border from Lebanon. A new day of artillery exchange against militias of the Shiite group Hezbollah. “Several launches were identified from Lebanon towards IDF (Israel Defense Forces) positions in border areas. IDF artillery returned fire and hit additional targets in Lebanon,” a military statement said.

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for at least seven attacks He described it as a direct attack against Israeli checkpoints along the border, in the Sheba farms and Kafarzuba mountains, as well as Israeli positions in front of the towns of Houla and Rmeich in southern Lebanon.