Israel: Hamas' fighting spirit broken

Middle East conflict - Israel: Hamas' fighting spirit broken - New UN vote

While the UN General Assembly is calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israel says it is achieving further successes in the fight against the Islamist Hamas. Many Hamas terrorists are currently surrendering in the face of military pressure, said Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

Meanwhile, the situation for civilians in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate. According to the UN, the people there are pleading for an end to "this hell on earth". The situation in the hospitals in particular is catastrophic. According to an analysis of satellite images, around 18 percent of all buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged since the start of the conflict. A total of 37,379 buildings have been affected, according to the United Nations Satellite Service (UNOSAT).

In the evening, the UN General Assembly voted by resolution in favor of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The paper introduced by Egypt achieved the necessary two-thirds majority in New York. 153 countries voted in favor, 10 against. 23 countries abstained, including Germany. The resolution does not explicitly mention the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7. This is why Germany was unable to vote in favor, according to the Federal Foreign Office via the short message service X. "We want to end the unbearable suffering of the people - in Israel and in Gaza".

UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but are considered symbolic. On Friday, a draft resolution for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war failed in the more powerful UN Security Council, whose resolutions are binding. The USA used its veto.

Israel: Many Hamas fighters surrender

Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant declared that the last Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip were about to fall. The Hamas command centers in the districts of Jabalia and Shejaiya had been encircled and were on the verge of collapse, Galant said. Hundreds of terrorists had surrendered. The fact that they "came out with their hands up shows that their fighting spirit is broken", said Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

Biden wants change in the Israeli government

US President Joe Biden also called on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change the Israeli government in order to find a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The "most conservative government in the history of Israel" does not want a two-state solution. Israel is beginning to lose support around the world.

Biden had previously promised Israel further support in the fight against Hamas terrorists. His "commitment to the security of the Jewish people" was unwavering. The USA would support Israel until the country got rid of Hamas. He is also working to get more "humanitarian aid for innocent Palestinian civilians".

UN: People plead for safety

Following a visit to the sealed-off coastal strip, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday: "People are everywhere, they live on the streets, they need everything." They pleaded for safety. "Our colleagues are being asked to do the impossible in an impossible situation," said Lazzarini. According to the United Nations, half of the population in the Gaza Strip is now starving. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have had to leave the fiercely contested north for the south on the orders of the Israeli military. But there is now fighting there too.

WHO: Hospital is a "humanitarian disaster zone"

According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Al-Ahli hospital in the city of Gaza resembles a humanitarian disaster zone. The hospital can only occupy 40 of its 80 beds, but has more than 200 patients, reported Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Patients were lying in corridors, the library and a chapel as well as in the inner courtyard. Doctors were treating seriously injured patients who arrived on donkey carts or on foot, sometimes on the ground and on the sidewalk. There was hardly any staff left. Because there is no vascular surgeon, they have to amputate limbs.

UN reports fighting near clinics

The United Nations also reported fighting near hospitals. The Al-Auda hospital in Jabalia has been surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks for six days, the UN emergency aid office OCHA reported. According to reports, around 250 doctors, patients and their relatives are trapped in the hospital. Two medical staff had been killed on duty there during fighting in recent days.

According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, Israeli troops also entered the Kamal Aduan hospital in the north. According to reports, men, including medical staff, were ordered to gather in the hospital courtyard. The Israeli military did not initially comment on the incident when asked. According to OCHA, the hospital had come under fire the day before.

Ministry: death toll rises to 18,400

According to the health authority in Gaza, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to 18,412 since the beginning of the war. More than 50,000 other people have been injured, the ministry announced on Tuesday. Most recently, the number of deaths was put at around 18,200. The figures cannot currently be verified, but the UN and other observers point out that the authority's figures have proven to be generally credible in the past.

The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 in Israel near the border with Gaza. As a result, more than 1200 people were killed on the Israeli side, including at least 850 civilians. Israel's army has lost 434 soldiers so far. According to the Israeli army, 135 people kidnapped from Israel are still being held by Hamas and other extremist groups in the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli media, 18 of them are no longer alive.