Israel’s army conducts today shelling of the Gaza Stripwith no sign of progress in negotiations to declare a ceasefire and as the escalation of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border continues.

In the early hours of the morning, eyewitnesses spoke of Israeli strikes in various sectors of the Palestinian enclave, especially in its central part.

In Lebanon, the national news agency (ANI) reported that a civilian was killed and at least seven wounded in a shelling by Israeli fighters near Tyre, in the southern part of the country, following a series of rocket launches by Hezbollah against northern Israel.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday during the G7 summit in Italy that France, the US and Israel will work, in the framework of a “tripartite” scheme, to implement the road map proposed by Paris to limit the tensions on the borders of the two states.

The plan includes a mutual suspension of hostilities and the withdrawal of al-Radwan forces, an elite unit of Hezbollah, as well as other armed groups within ten kilometers of the border, according to officials in Lebanon.

However, Hezbollah, which in the past two days says it has launched massive bombings in retaliation for the death of a senior member of its military wing in Israeli airstrikes, is refusing at this stage to commit to negotiations until a ceasefire is put in place. Gauze.

A cease-fire proposal announced in late May by US President Joe Biden, Israel’s main ally, does not appear to have any chance of being implemented either, as the Israeli government and Hamas stand firm.

“Killing and Famine”

“What have we gained from this war, besides killing, destruction, extermination and famine?” bursts out Umm Shadi, a 50-year-old Palestinian, stressing that what she would like is for Hamas to “end the war immediately, without seeking to maintain control and governance in Gaza.”

As hopes of a cease-fire have been dashed repeatedly, some residents of the Gaza Strip, such as Umm Shadi, criticize the Palestinian Islamist movement and call for an end to hostilities, as the enclave’s entire population (about 2.4 million) people) is facing a humanitarian disaster and the risk of famine, according to the UN.

In Jerusalem, students, holding photographs of people kidnapped during Hamas’ unprecedented raid on Israel in October and believed to still be held hostage in the Gaza Strip, also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to end the war and finally strike a deal to repatriate the hostages, demonstrating in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

But Mr. Netanyahu has said countless times that the war will continue until the elimination of Hamas.

“Street Fights”

Yesterday Thursday, artillery fire and airstrikes hit several areas, especially Rafah, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, according to AFP correspondents on the ground.

Hamas’s military arm said it was involved in street fighting in western Rafah, where eyewitnesses said Apache helicopter gunships opened fire. Others spoke of a night of fierce hostilities in the city.

Israel presents the ground operation it has been conducting since May 7 in Rafah as absolutely necessary to eliminate Hamas’ military arm, but fighting has resumed in recent weeks in several other areas of the enclave, particularly in its central part, where the Civil Protection announced that three bodies were found inside a house that was bombed.

The war in the Gaza Strip erupted on October 7 when Hamas’s military arm launched an unprecedented raid on southern Israel that killed 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. .

Another 251 people were kidnapped, of whom 116 are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, but 41 are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military.

In retaliation, the Israeli armed forces launched large-scale operations in the Gaza Strip, which have killed at least 37,232 people so far—30 in 24 hours—mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas health ministry. Israel’s political and military leadership has vowed to wipe out the movement, which Israel, the US and the EU designate as a terrorist organization.

“The main obstacle”

The US government is trying to secure an agreement based on a plan presented on May 31 by President Joe Biden, which calls for, in its first phase, an “immediate and complete” cease-fire for six weeks, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from “densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip and the release of some hostages, especially women and the sick, in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and the entry of more humanitarian aid.

Mr. Biden presented this plan as an Israeli proposal. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it incomplete and continues to insist that his government will continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and all the hostages are freed.

For its part, Hamas delivered to mediating countries (Egypt and Qatar) a first response, the content of which has not been officially announced. According to an AFP source familiar with the matter, he called for “modifications” to the proposal as presented by President Biden, in particular “a timetable for a permanent cease-fire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.” The Israeli government rejects these claims.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said yesterday Wednesday in Doha, the last stop of his multi-day tour of the Middle East since October 7, that “some changes” requested by Hamas are “workable”, but “others are not”.

On the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy, Mr Biden accused Hamas of blocking a ceasefire agreement. “I made a proposal that was approved by the (UN) Security Council, by the G7, by the Israelis, and the main obstacle at this stage is Hamas, which refuses to sign it, even though it proposed something similar,” he said.