- The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by the Palestinian Islamist movement's unprecedented attack on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip on October 7.
- In retaliation, Israel vowed to “destroy Hamas,” relentlessly shelling the besieged area home to 2.4 million Palestinians and launching a ground operation on Oct. 27.
- This Thursday, Hamas accused Israel of firing on a number of civilians waiting for help.
To better understand the latest events in the conflict between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel, 20 Minutes takes stock every evening. Between the strong statements, the diplomatic advances or the dramatic results of the fighting, here are the most important points of the day.
The fact of the day
Hamas accused Israel this Thursday of firing deadly shots at civilians waiting for help in Gaza City, while the army engaged in bitter fighting against the Islamist movement in Khan Younes, the epicenter of the war in the south of the territory. Palestinians under siege. These shootings reportedly left 20 dead and 150 injured. “The Israeli occupation has carried out a new massacre of thousands of starving people,” said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra. Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian movement, spoke of “artillery shells and rockets.”
The Israeli army has not confirmed this information. Several witnesses interviewed by AFP said they were attacked by the Israeli army. Ambulances streamed into the emergency room at Al-Shifa Hospital, sirens blaring. In the south, according to an AFP journalist, there were continuous bombings this Thursday on the city of Khan Younes, which Israel considers a Hamas stronghold.
The number of the day
42. This is the number of French men and women killed in the massacre in southern Israel on October 7th. This Thursday, a 42nd name was identified. “Unfortunately we are forced to increase the number of French victims of the attacks to 42 [du 7 octobre]. “We recently learned that among the victims was a dual citizen whose French nationality we did not know,” a spokesman for the Quai d'Orsay said during a press conference. He did not provide any information about the victim's age or the circumstances of his death, recalling that three Frenchmen were “still hostages in the Gaza Strip.”
Sentence of the day
The Israeli army has given until 5:00 p.m. local time [vendredi] to evacuate the animal shelter. »
This was stated by a spokesman for UNRWA, whose “shelter”, actually a UN agency building, was hit by Israeli fire this week. Since the start of the war, this UNRWA training center has been a refuge for 10,000 people. According to the UN, two tanks shelled this UN building on Wednesday. “Twelve people died and more than 75 were injured, including 15 in critical condition,” in the shooting, Thomas White, UNRWA chief in Gaza, said in a statement.
Today's trend
Israel on Thursday accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of “collusion” with Hamas and said it had ignored Israeli evidence showing that the Palestinian Islamist movement had used hospitals in Gaza “for terrorist purposes.” Israeli Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar condemned Hamas's presence “in hospitals,” which it “uses as human shields.” Every hospital says “IDF [armée israélienne] During a search in Gaza, she found evidence that it was being used by Hamas for terrorist purposes,” she added on the social network X, publishing the video of her statement to the WHO.
To date, the WHO has not confirmed Israel's allegations that Hamas built tunnels under hospitals and used them as command centers. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, was asked about this point during a press conference on December 21 and asserted that the organization was “unable to verify the manner in which each hospital was used “. “WHO's role is to monitor, analyze and report… We are not an investigative organization,” he said.