Civilian casualty toll in Gaza ‘excessively high’the US Secretary of State ruled yesterday Tuesday, Anthony Blinken, who today meets with its president Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, in order to discuss the thorny issue of the post-war situation in the enclave, which suffered massive destruction due to Israeli bombing.

Yesterday Mr. Blinken met in Tel Aviv with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallad’s government and called on Israel to protect Palestinian civilians in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“We know that when you’re dealing with an enemy hiding in the civilian population, hiding in schools and hospitals to open fire, things become incredibly difficult. But the price that civilians in Gaza pay every day, especially children, is too high,” the head of US diplomacy told the press.

The war between Israel and Hamas erupted after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s military arm on southern areas of Israeli territory was launched on October 7, killing some 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to a count by AFP based on the official announcements of the Israeli authorities. It was the deadliest attack since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948.

In retaliation, Israel’s civil-military leadership vowed to “wipe out” the ruling Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip and launched a wide-scale military operation that has killed at least 23,210 people, most of them women and children, according to the latest report by the Hamas Health Ministry.

The hostilities entered their fourth month this week as the UN sounded the alarm over the devastating conditions for the population in the enclave under total siege since 9 October.

The “reform” and the “after”

The Gaza Strip needs “more food, more water, more medicine”, Mr Blinken acknowledged yesterday, while calling on Israel to “stop taking measures that undermine the ability of the Palestinians to govern” their territories.

Shortly before the departure of the US Secretary of State for this tour of the Middle East, the fourth in a row since the outbreak of the war, the Israeli defense minister presented the outline of a plan for the “day after”, the situation “after” the war in the enclave .

The Gallant plan foresees that there will be “neither Hamas” nor “Israeli political administration” in the Palestinian enclave, and that the Gaza Strip will be governed by Palestinians who will not be “hostile” to Israel.

Far-right ministers of the Netanyahu government are demanding that settlers go back to Gaza and that its Palestinian residents be “encouraged” to “immigrate”, while Washington would like, according to analysts, for the Palestinian Authority to take over the governance of the enclave, but after there is ” reform’ of it.

In 2007, the Palestinian Authority lost control of the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has ruled ever since, and only exercises —limited— authority in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel after the 1967 war.

“The Palestinian Authority has a responsibility to reform, to improve its governance,” something “I plan to raise with President Abbas” at today’s meeting, Mr. Blinken said.

Mahmoud Abbas, who was first and last elected in 2005, will meet in Jordan today with King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss a plan for an “immediate ceasefire” and an uninterrupted flow humanitarian aid, according to Amman.

“all is lost”

International organizations do not stop warning that a humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, where 85% of the population has been forcibly displaced and humanitarian aid is arriving at a trickle.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that its capacity to help civilians in the Gaza Strip is “diminishing” as the “humanitarian disaster” worsens.

“Because of the lack of water, we only wash once a month, we suffer psychologically while diseases spread everywhere,” described Ibrahim Sadat, a displaced Palestinian.

“It hasn’t even been a hundred days, but it’s like a hundred years,” added Abdulaziz, another displaced person in Rafah, in the southern part of the Palestinian enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge.

“All our dreams were lost, as young women we dreamed of finding a job, studying. Children will lose years of their lives living here. Some went to school, some to kindergarten, but all of that didn’t matter, they were all lost,” sighed Khandil Shehata, a 23-year-old displaced person.

After mass shelling in the northern part of the Gaza Strip initially, Israel’s army has now mainly targeted the central and southern parts of the enclave, where it launched new raids overnight.

Israel has agreed in principle to a UN “assessment mission” being sent to the northern Gaza Strip in view of the possible return of displaced persons, Mr Blinken said yesterday.

“Regional approach”

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said yesterday it had targeted a military base in northern Israel in retaliation for the deaths of a senior official in its military arm, Wissam Tawil, and Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri.

Hundreds of Hezbollah members attended yesterday the funeral of Wissam Tawil in his village, Harabat Salem, where he was killed in an Israeli strike targeting his car, about ten kilometers from the border.

He was the most senior member of Hezbollah’s military arm to be killed after a cross-border firefight began — on Oct. 8, the day after the Hamas attack — that has raised fears of the war spreading across the region, something it is trying to prevent. with his tour the head of American diplomacy.

Mr Blinken said yesterday that he had discussed during the tour with leaders of countries in the region who are ready to work towards a “lasting” solution that would end the “cycle of violence” and guarantee “Israel’s security”.

“However, all of them emphasized that this will not be able to proceed unless there is a regional approach, which will include a path to the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he added.