Netanyahu announces increased military deployment and sets conditions for peace
In a guest article published in the "Wall Street Journal", Netanyahu also called for the creation of a "temporary security zone" on the border with the Gaza Strip as a concrete form of a possible peace solution. An "inspection mechanism" on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was also necessary to prevent weapons smuggling.
Netanyahu once again rejected the idea of giving the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, responsibility for the Gaza Strip. In doing so, he contradicted the USA and other Western allies who are demanding a leading role for the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to members of parliament from his Likud party, Netanyahu also announced an expansion of the military operation against Hamas, according to party sources. In a speech in the Knesset on Monday, he also promised to free the remaining hostages kidnapped from Israel in the Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli army needs "more time" to increase the military pressure on Hamas.
Netanyahu was once again confronted with fierce criticism from relatives of the hostages. Several of them booed Netanyahu several times during his speech. On Monday evening, relatives gathered for a rally in front of the Ministry of Defense and demanded that the hostages be freed "at any cost".
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued its operation in the Gaza Strip. Pictures taken by the AFP news agency showed thick clouds of smoke, particularly over Chan Junis, the largest city in the south of the territory. The Israeli army had announced in the past few days that it would continue to take action against targets in Khan Yunis in particular.
According to an AFP correspondent, nightly Israeli attacks were also directed against the nearby town of Rafah on the border with Egypt, where tens of thousands of displaced people are staying in makeshift camps. The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it had hit more than a hundred Hamas targets since the previous day.
On Tuesday, the Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel again reported a failure of all mobile phone and internet connections in the Gaza Strip. Due to the "ongoing offensive", a "complete interruption" of all services had to be determined, Paltel explained. This was the fourth outage since the start of the war.
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights once again expressed "deep concern" about the Israeli attacks on the center of the Gaza Strip, according to a spokesperson.
The war between Israel and Hamas has now been going on for over 80 days. It was triggered by a large-scale Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. According to Israeli figures, around 1140 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli information, 129 of them are still being held by the Islamists.
Since then, Israel has been carrying out massive attacks in the Palestinian territory - with the declared aim of destroying Hamas. According to the latest figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 20,910 people have been killed so far.
Fighting also continued in the West Bank on Tuesday. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, two Palestinians aged 17 and 31 were killed in an Israeli army operation in a refugee settlement near Hebron. The Israeli army spoke of an "anti-terrorist operation". According to Palestinian figures, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the Hamas attack on Israel, some by Israeli soldiers and some by Israeli settlers.
In view of the situation in the Middle East, Pope Francis made an urgent appeal for peace in his Christmas message. "I implore that the military operations with their horrific consequences of innocent civilian victims be stopped and that something be done about the desperate humanitarian situation," he said from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica in front of thousands of believers.
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Source: www.stern.de
