"Tell the world that we fight against animals." The request of an Israeli citizen, made this week next to the Wailing Wall, in Jerusalem, remains half-hearted for a few minutes when this chronicle is being written. Alarms sound in Tel-Aviv and you have to go to the nearest shelter, where a baby cries in his father's arms as he waits for the danger to pass. It is the day before the Sabbath.
Five minutes later, the Iron - the Iron Dome, Israel's anti-missile system - has fulfilled its purpose by neutralizing the projectiles sent from Gaza, and Tel-Aviv returns to normal within the abnormal environment it lives in. cosmopolitan and modern city since the attack by Hamas.
It doesn't matter if it's on the facade of a skyscraper, on a balcony, on the seafront, at a bus stop, in a shop, on a giant screen in a shopping center, on a street bench or on a lamppost ... there are two elements that predominate: the Israeli flag and the photos of the 240 hostages that the Islamist organization is holding hostage in Gaza.
against animals The animals would be the fighters of Hamas, who since the atrocities against civilians on October 7 cannot be considered anything other than terrorists. The tactic of dehumanizing the adversary is older than the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and it is not something that only that citizen of Jerusalem thinks. Many Israelis have been repeating this idea since Defense Minister Yoav Gallant expressed it on October 9, two days after the attacks that sparked this war. "We are fighting against human animals and we will act in the same way", said Gallant.
It had been three days since the alarms sounded in Tel-Aviv or in the central area of the country, and they did so again just the day after Gallant announced the control of the western sector of Gaza City and the beginning of a "new phase” of the war; the second phase of the land invasion of the strip that began three weeks ago.
With the usual military opacity, the minister did not clarify what the stage in which the offensive is entering, but it is clear that it includes the advance of troops to the south after that entire area of the strip has also been bombarded since the start of the conflict, despite Israel asking northern Gazans to move south to be safe. However, Israel still does not control the north, and rocket fire from Gaza into the center of the country makes it clear that Hamas remains a threat not only within the strip.
Yesterday, the director of Israel's National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, provided more data on this new phase by taking stock of the first three weeks of the ground offensive. “We are in the heart of Gaza City and we have attacked or eliminated all the places we marked as targets. Thousands of terrorists have been killed. The heads of terrorist organizations will never again carry out horrific atrocities," said Hanegbi, who added that the war cabinet would continue to resist international pressure to declare a ceasefire.
"The marked rule is: when we know that the hostages can be released, and it's not a manipulation or for PR purposes by Hamas, but a mass release of our hostages, only then will we accept a ceasefire. And even then, it will be very short," added Hanegbi, a day before the four-day march - which began on Tuesday in Tel-Aviv, which covers the 70 kilometers - of the hostages' relatives culminates in Jerusalem today Saturday to request his release.
The national security adviser confirmed that, at the request of the US, two fuel tankers a day will enter Gaza with the sole aim of restoring sewage treatment - managed by the UN - to prevent the spread of diseases, as warned by Doctors Without Borders and other humanitarian organizations. "We don't need epidemics that harm civilians or our soldiers. If there is an epidemic, the fighting will stop. If there is a humanitarian crisis and an international outcry, we will not be able to continue the fight under those conditions", was the justification offered by Hanegbi, who clarified: "We will not stop until the military and government capabilities of Hamas are destroyed and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad”.
Also yesterday, Hezbollah fired again into northern Israel and wounded four civilians in a kibbutz, while the Israeli air force bombarded Shia guerrilla positions in Lebanon. And in Jenin, in the West Bank, five Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
On the other hand, the army already fully controls the Al-Xifa hospital, but there is no evidence of the large network of tunnels that allegedly hid the headquarters of Hamas. Troops found only what they called an operational tunnel where weapons were located.
Israel accuses Hamas of having held some hostages in the hospital, but the organization denied this yesterday, although it acknowledged that there were kidnappings in Al-Xifa and other health centers, because they were transferred "a few because receive treatment due to the seriousness of their health conditions”. In a statement, the armed wing of Hamas announced the death of another hostage who received "intensive care" in a hospital and, after recovering, was taken back to his place of captivity, where he die because of "the panic attacks he suffered from the repeated bombings around the place where he was". On Thursday, Israel announced the discovery, in buildings adjacent to the Al-Xifa hospital, of the bodies of two more hostages: a 19-year-old soldier and a 65-year-old woman.
Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke yesterday about the thousands of dead Palestinians. "Any civilian death is a tragedy," Netanyahu replied. The dead Palestinians in Gaza reach 12,000, but the number could be much higher, because it is estimated that there are at least 3,000 corpses among the rubble of the destroyed buildings.
Thousands of dead people, not animals.
