Israel bombed Gaza again during the night, causing “several victims” and Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, while there is a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, where There are more than one million displaced people, hospitals are close to collapsing, and the reopening of the Rafah crossing is expected for a few hours, on the border with Egypt, for the exit of foreigners and the entry of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, the US president, Joe Bidensaid that Hamas must be “eliminated,” but at the same time warned that an Israeli occupation of Gaza would be a “serious mistake.”
Biden said he was convinced that the main objective should be “the elimination of Hamas”, but at the same time he explained that it is “necessary to have a strong Palestinian Authority”, an essential requirement for a path that opens the “road to a Palestinian State”. “Not now, but… I think Israel understands that a significant part of the Palestinian people does not feel represented” by the Islamist movement and its “extreme elements” and “does not share Hezbollah’s opinions.”
Biden, urged Iran to “avoid an escalation” of the conflict and then stated that “there is no clear evidence” that Tehran is behind the Hamas attack on Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu invited Biden to Israel. US and Israeli officials are discussing the possibility of a visit that would require extensive planning and enormous security measures. The White House specified that the president currently has no new visits scheduled.
Meanwhile in Gaza the hospitals still have 24 hours of electricity supply, the UN has warned, while according to a Palestinian official quoted by NBC News the Rafah crossing, on the border between Egypt and Gaza, could reopen for a few hours starting from 9am :00 (8:00 in Italy). The reopening was announced by the US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, after a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President al-Sisi.
Blinken rejected the proposal to relocate Palestinians en masse from Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula. “I heard directly from Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen and pretty much every other leader in the region that I spoke to, that that idea is a failure, and therefore we don’t support it,” he told Al Arabiya.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, called on Israel to provide prompt and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza and again called on Hamas to immediately release the hostages without preconditions.
Israel assured the UN that it had no intention of occupying the Strip, while an army spokesperson reported that 6,000 rockets had been fired from Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.
During the night, Al Jazeera reported, a “huge fireball” was reported in Gaza afterwards “multiple air attacks” by the Israeli army, which have caused the death of several people in the last few hours. The Civil Protection has lost at least seven members in the last few hours, who were apparently killed in the bombing of its headquarters. According to the Gaza authorities, 2,700 people have died in the Strip while at least 9,600 have been injured, a toll already higher than that of the 2014 conflict, which lasted more than six weeks. More than 1,400 Israelis were killed, the vast majority in the Hamas assault on October 7. According to Israel, at least 155 other people, including children, are currently held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Fourteen staff members of the UN humanitarian agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) were killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini. The world has “lost its humanity”, he said, commenting on the situation in the Strip, adding that he had organized the press conference to “raise the alarm”, as his colleagues in Gaza can no longer provide humanitarian assistance in the enclave .