23,084 Gazan civilians killed and 58,926 injured. These are the figures from the most recent balance of the authorities of the Gaza Strip, published this Monday, January 8, when the war enters its fourth month since the Hamas attack on Israel, on October 7, and the subsequent retaliation by the Army. of the country led by Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli attacks, which now focus especially on the center and south of the besieged enclave, have killed 249 people and injured more than 500, in the last 24 hours alone, as confirmed by the local Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, border tension between the Israeli Army and Hezbollah in Lebanon increases. An airstrike killed a leader of the Shiite militia that backs Hamas.
“The Israeli occupation committed 17 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, which has caused 249 dead and 510 injured during the last 24 hours“, a spokesperson for the Gaza Ministry of Health reported on the morning of this Monday, January 8. Among the total Palestinian fatalities, which already exceed 23,000they appear more than 9,600 minors. This is how the war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas enters its fourth month.
The new toll of victims offered by the Gazan authorities is part of a new stage of the conflict in which the Israeli Army claims to have destroyed all Hamas military infrastructure in the northern part of the besieged coastal strip, where most of the offense has been put in the last quarter. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the military institution, reported that the troops have killed around 8,000 militants of the Islamist movement there.
For this reason, and in accordance with the military objectives of the Israeli forces, the fighting is now focused on the central and southern area of the Palestinian enclave. Specifically, Israel says it has attacked around thirty Hamas positions in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, in the last few hours. An operation in which a dozen members of the group that controls that Palestinian territory would have died.
This Monday, the Al-Aqsa hospital, in the center of Gaza, received 73 dead and almost 100 injured people, a sign of the intensification of the attacks in the area, which forced the evacuation of a good part of the staff of the health complex and hundreds of patients.
From the Gaza Ministry of Health they point out that hospitals in the south “have lost their capacity to accommodate the injured in departments and intensive care.” They also denounce “massive overcrowding.”
For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that as of early January only 13 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are “partially” operating. Of them, nine are located in the south and four in the north of the Palestinian territory and all face shortages of basic supplies.
WHO staff on the ground claim to have seen “disgusting scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-stained floors and in chaotic hallways,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
Israel kills Hezbollah commander on border
In parallel, kilometers to the north, the hitherto low-intensity conflict on the border between Lebanon and Israel continues to rise after the assassination of Saleh al Arouri, Hamas' number two, in Beirut, the Lebanese capital.
This Monday, an Israeli airstrike on a pickup truck killed a commander of the elite Radwan Forces belonging to the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah in the south of the country. The armed group identified the dead fighter as Wissam al-Tawil.
According to reports on condition of anonymity from a militia official, a Honda SUV was hit in Khirbet Selm, a southern village, while al-Tawil was driving.
This fact means the death of the highest-ranking Hezbollah militant since October 7 and is part of an escalation of bombings on both sides of the border between the Israeli Army and the militia sponsored by Iran.
The troops of the Jewish-majority country have not yet commented on the attack on January 8, beyond indicating that fighter jets had attacked Hezbollah's infrastructure in southern Lebanese territory.
In search of avoiding a regional escalation
Visiting the region for the fourth time since October, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, met this Monday with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with the aim of strengthening the diplomatic channel in the region. region and avoid escalation.
The Emirati president stressed the importance of “working to establish a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to protect the lives of civilians and ensure the provision of permanent and safe mechanisms to deliver humanitarian aid to the residents of the Strip without obstacles,” picked up by the local agency 'WAM'.
Blinken and Al Nahyan reaffirmed the “importance of working to prevent the expansion of the conflict in a way that threatens regional peace, as well as creating a clear horizon for comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.”
The day before, Blinken did the same in Jordan and Qatar, where he stated that Washington opposes the massive and forced displacement of Gazans out of the enclave. Furthermore, he maintained that he hopes that Muslim civilians in Israel will play an essential role in the future of Gaza when the war is over.
The Jordanian king, Abdullah II, assured in a strong messageon platform
This Monday, the highest representative of American diplomacy is also expected to meet with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, before leaving for Israel on Tuesday, January 9.
Outside the region, Antonio Tajani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, highlighted this Monday, when the Alpine country takes the pro tempore Presidency of the G-7, that the working group of the most powerful states in the world must pressure Israel to to end their war in Gaza. This point, Tajani stated, would have put him on the table with his counterparts from the United Kingdom and France “to find a quick way out of the military phase.”
With EFE, AP and local media
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