With no end in sight, the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, marks one month this Tuesday, leaving a trail of destruction and deaths, especially among civilians.
Started on October 7 with the Hamas attack on Israel, which caused more than 1,400 deaths and 240 hostages by the movement that the European Union (EU) and the US consider a terrorist organization, and aggravated by the Israeli military response in Gaza that The Gaza Palestinian authorities claim to have killed more than 10,000 people, the conflict threatens to spread to other countries in the region – such as Lebanon, Syria and Sudan.
Here are some essential points about the current state of the conflict:
Israel’s objectives and the humanitarian situation
Since the first hours of the conflict, the Israeli army has attacked and bombed the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of destroying Hamas, including tracking down and eliminating the Gaza Strip Islamist group’s leader, Yahya Sinouar, the Israeli army said. Secretary of Defense Yoav Gallant.
In a Gaza Strip where the Israeli army also claimed on Sunday to have succeeded in dividing the Gaza Strip in two and promising that the attacks will continue, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic according to the UN and Hamas itself after the bombings, but also after the siege of the enclave where the water, fuel and electricity supplies were cut off.
The United Nations has actually led the call for an end to the conflict by denouncing the “humanitarian catastrophe” raging in the Gaza Strip and blaming Tel Aviv for the situation.
Possibility to expand the war into Lebanon
The involvement of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah in the conflict, from southern Lebanon and against northern Israel, is seen as a way for Iran to open a new battle front, forcing the Israeli army to reduce its resources to spread.
However, the powerful Shia movement does not receive the political support of Lebanon’s provisional government, a fact that was reaffirmed last Saturday. Lebanese Prime Minister Nayib Mikati asked US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a tour of several countries in the Middle East whether the United States would intervene to put an end to ‘Israeli aggression’ in the Middle East. Gaza and in southern Lebanon.
Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt fear a lack of control
Continued military pressure from the Israeli army on the one hand and the Hamas militias, backed in northern Israel by Hezbollah on the other, has led several states in the region to escalate their rhetoric against Tel Aviv and Washington. an end to hostilities.
The head of the Iraqi government, Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, accused the US of ‘lying’ when Washington claims it is pursuing a ceasefire, then vetoes UN Security Council resolutions to that effect, ‘which allows the Zionists to commit more murders’.
“American weapons, secret services and financial aid to the Zionist regime encourage killings and brutal actions against the Palestinian people,” said Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, stressing that the decision not to drag the region into a full-scale war “in the future lies in the hands of those who commit crimes against Gaza.”
On the other hand, the Arab League parliament on Saturday asked the UN Human Rights Council to form an international commission to investigate Israeli “war crime” against civilians in Gaza, accusing Israel of committing “a genocide” in the Palestinian enclave.
The League, at a time when Egypt and Jordan are trying to bolster efforts to support Palestinian refugees, accused “major countries” of “supporting and protecting” Israel in the war against civilians in Gaza.
The two-state solution gains supporters, but Netanyahu refuses
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, also joined the voice of the United States in defending a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but also admitted that despite its commitments in this connection, “did not present a credible plan to achieve this objective”.
The head of European diplomacy claimed that at the moment there are “no conditions for this solution”, recalling that this possibility existed when, thirty years ago, in 1992, in Oslo, the agreements signed at that time provided for exactly this. However, Borrell could not explain what happened to prevent this.
The Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu has never committed to the two-state solution, even after the US government through Joe Biden declared that this is the path to follow.
Return of the Palestinian National Authority to Gaza
After some criticism, deemed “weak” by the international community, Palestinian National Authority (ANP) President Mahmoud Abbas returned to the spotlight on Sunday by returning his executive power to to condition the state. Gaza to a more politically comprehensive agreement, including the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Abbas emphasized that the Gaza Strip, in the hands of Hamas since 2007, is an integral part of the State of Palestine and said that Ramallah, the headquarters of his executive branch, will assume all responsibilities within the framework of a global political solution for the West . Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Source: DN
