By Athena Papakosta

Israel is facing pressure from some of its closest allies over the dramatic ordeal it is subjecting civilians to in Gaza Strip where even today thousands are those who evacuate the city of Gaza on foot, leaving their homes for the south.

So far 70% of the total population of 2.3 million have been forced to flee their homes with the number of those heading south increasing in the past 24 hours as the Israeli armed forces are now in the center of Gaza City with the humanitarian situation getting worse by the minute.

On Wednesday the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) most powerful economies called for “humanitarian pauses” from Tokyo to allow aid to be flown in and the release of hostages, sharing the view that “a two-state solution remains the only path to a just, lasting and secure peace”.

For now, the end of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, now in its second month, is not in sight.

As Israel has made clear, the battle to defeat Hamas will be a long and difficult one.

In new announcements on Wednesday night, the spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) accused Hamas of hiding behind the civilian population, stressing that it has now lost control in the northern part of the Strip with Israeli ground forces operating in the city center. of Gaza.

In particular, he emphasized that the residents are leaving “because they understand that Hamas has lost control of the northern part of the Strip and that the south is safer where they will have water, food and medicine”.

At the same time, Hagari announced that the route connecting the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip will be open again today for a few hours only again calling on those who have not left the area to do so immediately noting that yesterday, Wednesday, almost 50,000 people left their homes. At the same time, however, the United Nations Organization speaks of 15,000 citizens moving in Salah Al Din, a number three times that of Monday.

For its part, Hamas denies that the Israeli army has managed to make territorial gains or even enter the center of Gaza City, stressing also that it has managed to destroy at least 136 Israeli military vehicles since the start of the ground operation.

At the same time, information about plan to release the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire for just a few hours. The news is broadcast by Israeli and Arab Media emphasizing that Qatar is the one that is currently moving the threads of the said negotiations in order for the hostilities to stop for up to two 24 hours and for ten or 15 hostages to be released.

Already in the last few days, we read that Biden and Netanyahu, during their phone call last Monday, allegedly discussed a “three-day ceasefire” with the White House, however, replying that it does not comment on the American president’s private discussions.

The number one target of the Israeli armed forces is Hamas’ underground labyrinth of tunnels and command infrastructure with the IDF releasing video footage of the Nahal brigade allegedly storming the organization’s training facility north of the Strip destroying further openings.

As he even explained to SKAI and his envoy Stavros Ioannidis, Israeli Army operations officer, “the tunnels are currently the biggest concern for Hamas. They plan to use them against our forces and right now they understand that they are actually becoming graves for them.”

But the international community is pressing with the United Nations High Commissioner Volker Turk to talk about war crimes both on the part of Israel and on the part of Hamas. Israel, however, has resisted calls for humanitarian pauses, reiterating that it will not agree to a ceasefire until all hostages are freed.