The Israeli Air Force is pounding the southern Gaza Strip in the morning, while the US Secretary of State continues in Egypt his tour of the Middle East, with the aim of preventing further spread of the Israel/Hamas war.

Alongside the fighting and diplomatic efforts, Israel will be facing from today before the International Criminal Court (ICC) with charges of “genocide” due to its attack on the Gaza Strip, initiated by South Africa. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called them “absurd”.

In the early hours of today, the Israeli air force launched new heavy strikes on Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza, which has become the focus of hostilities in recent weeks. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, at least 7 people were killed and 25 others were injured.

Late yesterday afternoon, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced the death of six people, including four ambulance crew members, in a strike on one of its vehicles in the central part of the Palestinian enclave, which it attributed to the Israeli army.

“Battles are being fought underground, above ground, it’s a very complicated area, with an enemy that has been preparing its defense for a very long time and in a very organized way,” Israel’s chief of staff, Herchi Halevi, said yesterday during a visit to the central part of Gaza Strip.

“Almost insurmountable”

International organizations continue to warn that a public health disaster is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with 85% of the population displaced and humanitarian aid still trickling in. Aid distribution is facing “almost insurmountable” obstacles, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday.

In Rafah, on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting have taken refuge, Zaki Sahin, a retired doctor, has turned his office into an emergency department.

The Hague / AP

“At night, we sometimes stay until 11:00 p.m. or after midnight, when everything is closed,” as “it’s impossible to get into a car or get to a hospital. We offer first aid to the wounded and they can go to a hospital the next day (…) The idea came to me during this period (of the war), which I hope will end soon,” he explained.

The war broke out when an unprecedented attack by Hamas on southern sectors of Israeli territory was launched on October 7, killing some 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official statements by Israeli authorities.

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 23,357 people, most of them women and children, according to the latest report of the Hamas Health Ministry, which was made public yesterday Wednesday. In other words, the victims are about 1% of the population of the Palestinian enclave. Another 59,400 and more were injured.

Attacks on the Red Sea

Despite international diplomatic efforts, nothing seems to be able to end this war, which this week entered its fourth month.
The head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, whose country is Israel’s main ally, is trying to prevent the spread of the war in the region, where Hamas has many allies, armed groups supported by Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and in Yemen.

On Israel’s northern border, exchanges of fire with the Lebanese Hezbollah have been daily since the day after the war broke out. Their tension escalated after a January 2 airstrike attributed to Israel in a southern suburb of Beirut that killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri.
“After we fought in Gaza, we know how to do it in Lebanon too if we have to,” explained Israeli Chief of Staff Halevi.

At the same time, British and American ships and fighters shot down 18 drones and three missiles launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea last Tuesday night, according to the US military, in a “sophisticated” attack, for which the Yemeni rebels claimed responsibility, which they want the shipping traffic in this sea lane to be reduced in “solidarity” with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Since mid-November, the Houthis have launched 26 attacks in the Red Sea, according to the U.S. military, reducing container ship traffic by about 70 percent, Amy Daniel, founder and CEO, told AFP. managing director of Windward, a consultancy specializing in maritime transport.

Against this backdrop, the UN Security Council yesterday demanded an “immediate” halt to the Houthi attacks, whose actions “will have consequences”, as Mr. Blinken from Bahrain warned last night after the meeting, earlier, with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip?

In 2007, the Palestinian Authority lost control of the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has ruled ever since, and only exercises its —limited— authority in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel after the 1967 war. But the government of The US would like to see it take over the governance of the enclave, after it is “reformed” first.

During their meeting, Mr. Abbas and Mr. Blinken spoke of “the importance” of “reforming the Palestinian Authority, its politics, and its governance so that it can effectively assume responsibility in the Gaza Strip.” said the head of US diplomacy, reaffirming Washington’s support for the creation of a Palestinian state.

After about a week of contacts in the Middle East, Mr Blinken said his interlocutors referred to the need to “prevent” the Israel/Hamas war from spreading further and to find a “better path” the region could take , especially “the Israelis and the Palestinians”.