A good month after the Islamist Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians, the terrorist organization ruling the Gaza Strip has, according to Israel, lost control of the north of the coastal strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas fighters “no longer have a safe place to hide.” The military had also previously announced that Hamas no longer controlled the north. It is unclear whether this also applied to the extensive tunnel system.
Meanwhile, the situation in the hospitals, especially in the fiercely contested northern part, became increasingly dramatic. Israel suspects that the Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital complex in the Gaza Strip, is a Hamas command center. Netanyahu was evasive about the future of the coastal strip after the fighting ends. However, he ruled out administration by the Palestinian Authority from the West Bank.
Fierce fighting right at the hospital
According to a doctor working at Shifa Hospital, heavy fighting continued in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. “We can hardly treat the patients in the hospital and we are in the middle of a war zone,” said doctor Ahmed Muchallalati to the Al-Jazeera news channel.
“There are ongoing airstrikes and drones circling the area of the hospital.” Medical care for patients has almost come to a standstill due to a lack of electricity, water and medicine. Several patients have already died as a result. The information could not be verified. Israel’s army denied allegations of attacks.
New window of opportunity to escape to southern Gaza
Israel’s military had given civilians in the north of the Gaza Strip a new window of opportunity to flee to the south on Sunday. In addition, a passage should be created between the Shifa Hospital and a connecting road to the south, the army announced on Platform X. The escape corridor is open between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (8 a.m. to 3 p.m. CET). According to eyewitness reports, thousands fled south, mostly on foot.
Netanyahu: Hamas terrorists doomed to death
Netanyahu said everyone from Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar “to the last terrorist” was doomed to die. The army has already killed thousands of terrorists, including “commanders who led the terrible massacre on October 7th.”
Since then, Israel has suffered more than 1,200 civilians and soldiers killed. Hamas-controlled health authorities in the Gaza Strip report more than 11,000 deaths from Israeli attacks.
Netanyahu stressed that there would be no ceasefire without the release of the 239 hostages. Regarding the diplomatic efforts, Netanyahu said that the families would be informed as soon as there was something concrete. Until then it is better to remain silent.
Future of the Gaza Strip uncertain: “Something different”
Netanyahu said again that Israel wanted to retain security control in the Gaza Strip after defeating Hamas. The coastal strip must be demilitarized. At the same time, he ruled out that the more moderate Palestinian Authority (PA) from the West Bank could take control of the Gaza Strip again. From there, the organization led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was expelled by Hamas in 2007.
Netanyahu stressed that Israel would not accept an administration in the Gaza Strip “that raises its children to hate Israel, kill Israelis or eliminate Israel.” It has to be “something different”.
Israel warns Hezbollah
Israel responded to ongoing attacks from neighboring Lebanon with a clear warning to the Shiite militia Hezbollah based there. “Don’t make the mistake of joining the war. That would be the mistake of your life,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said the evening before, addressing Hezbollah, which, like Hamas, is mainly financed by Iran.
Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant said most of the Israeli Air Force was no longer involved in the Gaza Strip. The noses of the aircraft are now pointing north. The citizens of Lebanon need to know that if Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah makes a mistake, “the fate of Beirut could be like the fate of Gaza,” said Galant.
800 foreigners and Palestinians left with second passports
Hundreds of foreigners and Palestinians with second passports again left the Gaza Strip. More than 800 of them crossed the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, said a spokesman for the checkpoint on the Palestinian side on Sunday. This means that around 2,700 foreigners and Palestinians with second passports have left the sealed-off coastal area since the border was reopened about a week and a half ago. According to the Foreign Office, more than 280 Germans and their relatives have been able to leave the country in the past few days.
Scholz continues to hope for a two-state solution
Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that a two-state solution in the Middle East is still possible despite the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. The goal must be that after all the terrible things that have happened, there is a perspective “that makes a two-state solution possible again,” said the SPD politician at a talk format with the “Heilbronner Stimme” in Heilbronn.
“If you want a permanently peaceful situation, you have to want the possibility of a Palestinian state that is not a threat to Israel,” said Scholz. This is part of the concept of the two-state solution, which has almost been possible several times. Hamas has always thwarted these peace efforts because it wants to destroy the Israeli state and expel Israeli citizens, said Scholz: “And if they can no longer do that, the chance is perhaps greater than it was before this attack on Israel .”
