The Israeli army is concentrating its operations today in the central part of the Gaza Stripdespite the increasingly critical situation for civilians, despite calls for a ceasefire and despite concerns about the “spreading” of the war to the so-called northern front, on the border with Lebanon.

Beyond the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces multiplied their raids on major cities in the occupied West Bankespecially in Jenin and Ramallah, where his Palestinian Authority headquarters are located Mahmoud Abbas, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The army general staff warned against an intensification of fire along the border with Lebanon mainly by elements of Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite movement which, like Hamas, is part of the “axis of resistance”, organizations close to Iraq and hostile to Israel and the USA.

Close to the border Israel/Lebanonin the part of the Golan Heights annexed by Israel, was shot down by a drone on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the Israeli military confirmed to AFP, after the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a group believed to be the creation of members of Iraqi pro-Iranian armed groups , claimed responsibility for the strike against a “vital target” south of Elias with “appropriate weapons”.

Besides, Iran yesterday threatened Israel with “direct actions” and others, “from the front of the resistance”, after the death on Monday of Razi Mousavi, a high-ranking officer of the Revolutionary Guards, in a strike in Syria attributed to the Israeli air force.

On the other hand, the chief of the Israeli National Defense General Staff, Herchi Halevi, said that his men are “at a very high level of preparation for the spread of fighting in the north”, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have been practically daily since the day after the outbreak. of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Quadruplets in the midst of war

In the Palestinian enclave, Chahal units reported continuing their operations in Khan Younis, the largest city in the south, as well as in refugee camps in the central part of the region.

Hamas’ health ministry reported bloody strikes overnight in Nuseirat and Deir al-Bala, in the central part of the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million residents, 1.9 million of whom (85%) have fled their homes. their homes because of the war.

In Deir al-Bala, Iman al-MasrShe gave birth to quadruplets—two boys and two girls—in the middle of the war.

“They are so tiny. It’s cold, it’s windy and there’s no baby bath so I can wash them (…) I can’t bathe them, I clean them with wet cloths,” said the 28-year-old mother, who was displaced by the war.

“There are no diapers, no powdered milk. I try to breastfeed them, but I don’t have really nutritious milk,” he added, explaining that he is not eating well. She fears that the shelling will break the windows and injure the newborns.

“I thought the war would last ten days and then we would go home” (to Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip). “We didn’t take anything with us,” her husband, Amar, says awkwardly at her side.

Israel’s civil-military leadership has vowed to “eliminate” Hamas following its military arm’s unprecedented attack on southern sectors of Israeli territory on October 7. The Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Islamic Movement announced on Wednesday that since then 21,110 people, including 6,300 women and 8,800 children, have been killed in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.

The attack by Hamas resulted in them being killed somewhere 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli announcements. Another 250 or so people were abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip, where more than 120 remain in captivity, according to Israeli authorities. Besides, in Israeli ground operations since October 27 in the Palestinian enclave, 167 Israeli soldiers have been killed (3 yesterday), according to the general staff. A portion of the Israeli press considers this number to be underestimated.

“Permanent ceasefire”?

In the Gaza Strip, the civilian population is faced with increasingly “serious danger” as well as “hunger and despair” are worsening, to the extent that “hungry people blocked our convoy in the hope that they would find something to eat”, reported the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday.

At the same time, during his telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, the President of France Emmanuel Macron once again repeated his request to be implemented as soon as possible “permanent ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, the Elysee announced.

Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, whose country is playing a mediating role and helped broker a seven-day ceasefire in late November, this week discussed with US President Joe Biden the need to agree a “permanent ceasefire” “, so that there is not simply another pause in business.

A truce late last month allowed them to be released 105 hostages and, in return, 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, as well as getting more aid into the enclave.

But the efforts of the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, continue to bear no fruit – a new suspension of hostilities – while the toll of victims is getting heavier every day.

According to the Hamas Health Ministry, 195 people were killed in 24 hours in the Gaza Strip. The ministry said yesterday that Chahal targeted a house adjacent to the Al Amal (“Hope”) hospital in Khan Younis, killing 22 people and injuring 34 others.

Trying to save themselves from the incessant bombardment, Palestinians who had until yesterday found shelter in a UN school in the Nuseirat refugee camp (central), left having loaded mattresses, blankets, luggage with their personal items in two-wheeled carts, on the roofs of cars.

“Not even the UN schools are safe anymore”; “first we were displaced to Nuseirat, then we went to Rafah. People don’t know where to go,” explained one. He added that “our message to the world is ‘make an effort to declare a ceasefire'”.