As Israel’s military advances its preparations for a major offensive against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of Palestinians are fleeing. Will there be a humanitarian catastrophe?
Tel Aviv/Gaza – While tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are fleeing to the south of the area, Israel’s military is apparently taking some time with its planned ground offensive against the Islamist Hamas. The attack was supposed to begin this weekend, but was postponed because of cloudy skies and the resulting difficulty in visibility for pilots and drones, the New York Times reported, citing three unnamed senior Israeli officers. The aim is to wipe out the political and military leadership of the Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, who committed massacres in Israel a week ago that left hundreds dead. The Bundeswehr has now flown out more Germans from the region.
Newspaper: Israel faces months of urban warfare
The impending offensive poses the risk that Israel will become embroiled in months of bloody house-to-house fighting, according to the New York Times. Tens of thousands of Hamas fighters are believed to be holed up in bunkers and hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnel systems beneath Gaza City and surrounding parts of the northern Gaza Strip. Israel’s army assumes that Hamas will try to blow up tunnels under the advancing ground troops.
Concern about hostages
Hamas is also planning to get behind Israeli lines through secret tunnel exits and attack from behind. Another strategic dilemma is that the terrorists could hole up underground with hostages and then be difficult to eliminate, it was said.
Between 150 and 200 people are estimated to have been kidnapped into the Gaza Strip, Israel’s security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday. The military had previously announced that the families of around 120 hostages had been informed.
Baerbock urges the hostages to be released
After crisis talks in Egypt, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urgently appealed to Hamas to release all hostages. The federal government is aware of eight cases of German nationals among them – most of them are dual nationals, said the Green politician after a meeting with her Egyptian colleague Samih Schukri in Cairo. All channels are being used “to do everything to ensure that these innocent people are released”.
Palestinian terrorists, acting on behalf of Hamas, carried out a massacre of Israeli civilians in border towns and at a music festival last weekend. More than 1,300 people were killed. Israel has since responded with heavy air strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip, where more than 2,200 people were killed and nearly 9,000 injured, according to Palestinian figures on Saturday.
Chaos in the Gaza Strip: Tens of thousands on the run
Tens of thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip are now fleeing to the south of the area hermetically sealed off by Israel. The Israeli army had informed about two temporary escape routes that should be spared from attacks until Saturday afternoon. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for immediate access for humanitarian aid. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), transferring seriously ill and injured patients is impossible. “Transporting such people is tantamount to a death sentence,” she emphasized. The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees warned of an acute water shortage. “People, including young children, the elderly and women, will die from severe dehydration,” the organization warned.
USA is moving more warships to the Middle East
The USA is now moving more warships to the eastern Mediterranean, including the aircraft carrier “USS Dwight D. Eisenhower”, the guided missile cruiser “USS Philippine Sea” and two destroyers. They are to join the ships that have already been relocated to the region, as the Defense Ministry in Washington announced on Saturday evening (local time). The warships should therefore not take part in combat operations, but rather serve as a deterrent. The White House also emphasized that it has no plans to send ground troops to Israel.
Scholz and Netanyahu warn of conflagration
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) once again assured Israel of Germany’s solidarity in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both agreed “that it is important to avoid a regional conflagration and, in particular, Hezbollah’s intervention in the conflict,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. The Shiite organization in southern Lebanon is a close ally of Israel’s arch-enemy Iran and was already involved in a war with Israel in 2006. In recent days there have been clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border with deaths on both sides.
Saudi Arabia has meanwhile stopped talks about possible establishment of relations with Israel, as the German Press Agency learned from Saudi diplomatic circles. Shiite Iran declared a possible rapprochement between Israel and the Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to have failed. Some experts believe that this was precisely the main target of the Hamas terrorist attack last Saturday. dpa
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