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On Monday, diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable aid to enter the beleaguered Gaza Strip failed. Additionally, Israel ordered the evacuation of towns in a region close to its border with Lebanon, increasing concerns that the battle may now be moving to a new front.
After its fighters breached the fence enclosing the enclave on October 7, killing 1,300 Israelis—mostly civilians—in the worst day in Israel’s 75-year history, Israel has threatened to completely destroy the Hamas movement that administers Gaza.
With 2.3 million Palestinians living there, Gaza has been completely blockaded, subjected to unprecedented airstrikes, and is now poised to face a ground invasion. According to the authorities in Gaza, at least 2,750 people have died there, mostly civilians.
One million Gazans have reportedly already been evicted from their homes, according to the UN. There is no electricity, there is little access to potable water, and the rest of the gasoline for emergency generators may run out within a day.
Residents claimed that the air attacks overnight were the most intense yet, and that bombardment continued all day.
In the biggest sign yet that the war could spread to a new front, Israel ordered the evacuation on Monday of 28 villages in a two km-deep zone near its Lebanese border. Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said it had targeted five Israeli positions.
The past week has already seen the deadliest clashes in the border area since a major 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which, like Hamas, is an ally of Iran.
In a speech to parliament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israelis should prepare for a long battle, and delivered a warning to Tehran and Hezbollah in which he referred to the 2006 war, which displaced a million Lebanese.
“Now we are focused on one target: to unite forces and charge forward to victory. This requires determination because victory will take time,” he said.
“And I have a message for Iran and Hezbollah, don’t test us in the north. Don’t make the same mistake you once made. Because today the price you will pay will be much heavier.”
Despite warning sirens sounding, after 10 days of strikes, Hamas still has the ability to launch rockets into Israel. According to Hamas, it bombarded Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with bullets.
The only exit from Gaza that is not under Israeli control is through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which has been the focus of diplomatic efforts to bring relief into Gaza.
Israel, according to Egypt, was not cooperating, causing hundreds of tonnes of goods to become blocked.
“There is an urgent need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters, adding talks with Israel on opening Rafah for aid had so far been fruitless.
Washington has also been working to temporarily open the crossing so that some of the few hundred Gazans with American passports can depart. According to Shoukry, Egypt could permit medical evacuations and admit select Gazans with travel authorization.
However, there hasn’t been any news in the media about Egypt taking in a large flood of refugees, so it’s unlikely that the vast majority of Gazans will be given a way out. A mass exodus, according to Egypt and other Arab nations, would be intolerable because it would equate to Palestinians being driven from their homeland.
Those making the journey from within Gaza to the crossing described it as dangerous and under bombardment.
“On our way to the crossing they shelled Rafah Street and we started screaming,” said one resident near the crossing, Hadeel Abu Dahoud. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Wherever we go there’s shelling, shelling, crying, screaming, blood.”
Israel has declared that more than a million residents of the enclave’s northern half must go to the southern portion for their safety. The UN claims there is no possibility to evacuate that many people without causing a humanitarian catastrophe, despite the fact that tens of thousands have obeyed and fled; Hamas has instructed them to remain.
With little to no access to mechanical equipment to clean the debris, Gazans have been tearing through the debris of destroyed buildings with their own hands to rescue neighbours and recover the dead.
According to Cairo, Israeli attacks on the Gaza side have rendered the Rafah border unusable although it is not formally blocked. Despite past disappointments, U.S. officials were still holding out hope that Rafah would function for a few hours on Monday, according to White House spokesman John Kirby.
Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters early on Monday that a brief ceasefire in southern Gaza had been agreed upon to endure for a few of hours in order to permit relief and evacuations at Rafah. A high-level source who asked to remain nameless later said that no truce had been reached, according to Egyptian state TV. Both Hamas and Israel rejected rumours of an agreement to open the border.
(With agency inputs)
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