Ukraine and Russia forgotten, China invisible, Western diplomacy seems focused on pacifying the Middle East, the conflict between conflicts. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, visited Israel and the West Bank yesterday with an original proposal: the formation of an international coalition like the one that ruthlessly defeated the Islamic State in 2014 in Iraq and Syria, and which also included countries Arabs.
There are now few European leaders who have not passed through Israel, and none as determined as yesterday Macron, whose initiative for a front against Hamas was accompanied by counterweights, along the European line of asking Israel for moderation in the face of its ground offensive.
France is in favor of defeating Hamas, “without contemplation but not without rules. Terrorism is our common enemy,” he stated before Prime Minister Netanyahu. For France, October 7 is also “a black page in our history”, given the thirty French people killed by the terrorist incursion and the nine citizens kidnapped.
In the afternoon, Macron visited President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, whose impotence and irrelevance make him a figure without prominence once the war ends and it is time to turn the page to diplomatically address a solution. President Macron yesterday subscribed to the objective of the 1993 Oslo process, which slumbered the dream of the just: the two-state formula.
The Elysée initiative has surprised, but it is interpreted in Western diplomatic circles as a way to “influence” – something that seems reserved for Washington – on the Israeli response, which is limited to the bombings on the Gaza Strip, with chilling figures. Thus, Israel said yesterday that it had attacked 400 “terrorist targets” in the strip in one day, a figure that for the Hamas authorities in Gaza meant 700 deaths in 24 hours, the deadliest day since the start of the bombings, the first of the three phases of the war planned by Israel.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, the death toll rises to 5,800 people.
The delay in the ground offensive, so often “imminent,” is attributed to the United States' request to try to get Hamas to release as many hostages as possible. There are four women, of advanced age, except one, released without known compensation and for “humanitarian reasons.”
Israeli Yocheved Lifshift, 85, spoke to the media yesterday at the Tel Aviv hospital where she was admitted, in apparent good condition. It was a disastrous appearance in terms of public relations for the Israeli story, since she described what she experienced as “hell”, but explaining, at the same time, that the treatment received during the two weeks of captivity was good and humane.
“I went through hell,” he said in relation to the capture. She and her husband, who remains kidnapped, were beaten with batons and taken by motorcycle to the interior of Gaza, where they had to walk several kilometers through “a web of tunnels.” There, separated into a group of five, they were received by their guards with a “we are Muslims, we will not harm you.” And they slept on mattresses and shared the same food –cheese and cucumbers–, the same hygienic conditions.
The tone of the appearance bothered conservative news media, which regret the propaganda concession to the kidnappers. At the same time, it is worth remembering that her husband is still in the hands of Hamas and certain statements could harm him. A third stream of reactions is proud because it considers it an example of the freedom of expression that all Israelis enjoy, even in such exceptional times as these.
Yesterday, the entry of twenty humanitarian aid trucks through the Rafah border crossing was interrupted, without anyone assuming responsibility for the fiasco. Even the president of the United States, Joe Biden, came to the fore to criticize that assistance “is not going fast enough.”
Israel refuses to allow fuel into these convoys because it would end up in the hands of Hamas. He claims to have aerial images showing that Hamas has fuel depots in Gaza that make entry unnecessary.
The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees warned that it will stop its operations in Gaza tonight if it does not obtain fuel first.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also warns that six hospitals in the strip have closed due to lack of fuel and two others have suspended some critical services for the same reason, while demanding the safe passage of fuel and supplies to the centers. sanitary.
Some of the facilities awaiting WHO supplies and fuel in northern Gaza are Al Shifa hospital, where bed occupancy is already approaching 150%, according to the organization.
The World Health Organization delivered 34,000 liters of fuel to four large hospitals in southern Gaza and the Palestinian Red Crescent to maintain their ambulance services. However, he denounced that this amount is only enough to keep these facilities operating for a little more than 24 hours.
Life goes on in the Middle East.
