Fierce fighting continued today in the Gaza Strip, while Israel also launched more raids in the occupied West Bank, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated her his opposition to the idea of ​​”Palestinian sovereignty” in this region.

Israel must make sure “that Gaza will no longer be a threat” and this request “contradicts the demand for Palestinian national sovereignty”, Mr. Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden yesterday Friday, according to the office of the Israeli prime minister.

On Thursday, Mr Netanyahu said Israel wanted to maintain security control over “all the territory west of the Jordan” river, in other words the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The war, now in its 107th day, is testing the Jewish state’s relationship with its main ally and supporter, the US, particularly because of disagreements over the — of enormous post-war — issue of the “two-state” solution.

“Scam”

Joe Biden “still always believes in the prospect and possibility” of the two-state solution, although he “recognizes that it will take a lot of work to get there,” the White House said after the televised conference call.

“The fraud that Biden is admonishing in favor of (the establishment of) a state of Palestine (…) is not deceiving our people”, was yesterday the reaction of Hamas, which is characterized as a “terrorist” organization by Israel, the USA and the European Union.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for his part, he highlighted the “right of the Palestinian people” to obtain a state, which must be “recognized by all”, characterizing any “denial” as “unacceptable”.

The conflict was sparked by an unprecedented attack by Hamas’ military wing on southern sectors of Israeli territory on October 7, which killed some 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official statements by the authorities. . About 250 other people were abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip when the attack took place. About a hundred were released when a week-long truce was declared at the end of November.

In retaliation for the attack Israel vowed to “wipe out” the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and its military operations since then have killed at least 24,927 people, the vast majority of them women and children, according to the latest report by the Hamas Health Ministry.

At least 1.7 million people have been displaced by the war, according to revised figures from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Mr. Netanyahu rejects calls from the UN and the international community to declare a humanitarian ceasefire. Washington, for its part, has called on Israel to take steps to reduce civilian casualties in the small enclave.

Leaflets

Hamas reported today that there were dozens of bombardments, by Israeli aircraft and artillery, in the Gaza Strip, especially around the Nasser and Amal hospitals in the city of Khan Yunis, the focus of hostilities in recent weeks.

Dozens of bodies “still remain under the rubble,” the Palestinian Islamist movement said.

According to eyewitnesses and an AFP correspondent, the Israeli army resumed operations around the Jabalia refugee camp this morning.

For its part, the Israeli army announced that its forces killed 15 Palestinian fighters in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and spoke of the “elimination of a number of terrorists” in Khan Yunis by snipers with air support.

At the same time, the Israeli army is conducting operations in the West Bank. Overnight raids were carried out in Hebron, Qalqilya and Jenin, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Arrests were reported, according to the same source, while two houses were demolished in Hebron. They belonged to Palestinian fighters.

The Israeli army dropped leaflets with photographs of hostages in Rafah yesterday, asking residents of the town — where hundreds of thousands of displaced people from other areas of the enclave are piling in — to give it any information they have about them.

According to Israel, 132 hostages are still in the enclave. However, at least 27 have been killed.

Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv yesterday to demand the return of the hostages held since October 7 in the Gaza Strip and also for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to leave office, whom they accused of continuing and intending to prolong as long as possible the war to stay in power.

Raid on Damascus

The war, now in its fourth month, is escalating the tension between Israel and its allies – the main one being the US – on the one hand and on the other the “axis of resistance”, in which Hamas is rallying around Iran , Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and various paramilitary organizations in Iraq, heightening concerns that there could be regional conflagration.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raishi threatened Israel with retaliation after at least five Israeli soldiers were killed in Damascus on Saturday in a blow to Israeli forces by the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, an elite unit tasked with military operations abroad.

The Israeli army, asked about this by AFP, did not want to make any comment.

On the Israel/Lebanon border, where gunfire remains daily, a civilian and a member of Hezbollah were killed in an Israeli strike on the vehicle they were traveling in, according to the official ANI news agency and the Shiite militia.

In western Iraq, 15 rockets and missiles, including about ten ballistic missiles, were fired at a base housing US and international anti-jihadist coalition troops, according to Iraqi and US officials. Responsibility was claimed by the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, as fighters belonging to various armed organizations close to Iran call themselves.

The Pentagon also announced yesterday Saturday that it “destroyed” a missile against Houthi surface ships, in a new raid that it said was launched in “legitimate defense”, to prevent an attack like those launched by dozens of Yemeni rebels against commercial ships in Eritrea Sea and in the Gulf of Aden.