Israel expands the offensive on Gaza, dozens are dead

While at home the Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu is facing the scandal Qatargate his troops increase pressure on Gaza, extending the operations. As the Defense Minister, Israel Katz announced, Israel will strengthen his military presence in the strip for “Destroy and reclaim the area from terrorists and from terrorist infrastructures “.

The operation concerns “sixteen large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli safety areas”, said, without specifying the size of the territory that will be an attached. In the evening the prime minister announced “A gear change in the strip”where “the IDF is conquering territory, hitting terrorists and destroying infrastructures”.

Israel is “taking possession of the ‘Morag Routè. This will be the second Philadelphi corridor”, added Netanyahu, referring to the buffer area on the border between the Strip and Egypt. The military are “dissecting the strip and increasing the pressure step by step so that (Hamas) gives us back the hostages”.

“The only thing that can prevent us from continuing to advance is the release of our hostages”, the Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir echoed him, confirming “the expansion” of the attacks in the coastal encycling. And the Budget of the dead in the strip He suffered a surge: from this morning to dawn, There are already 68 victims according to Palestinian health sources mentioned by Haaretz. Among these there are at least 19 people killed, including nine children, in an Israeli attack against a UNRWA clinic in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

The IDF reported that it has hit “a Hamas command and control center in Jabaliya” used to coordinate terrorist activities “. The army pointed the finger at the militant group That “takes control of civil infrastructures and brutally exploits the civilian population as a human shield”.

From Ramallah the Palestinian Foreign Ministry sentenced the “massacre” and asked for “one serious international pressure “ To stop the increasingly extensive offensive than Israel. From Londonthe Undersecretary for British Foreign Affairs, Hamish Falconer, expressed “profound concern”, underlining that the United Kingdom “does not support the expansion of military operations”.

The announcement of Katz was also welcomed with horror even by the family members of the kidnapped who accused the government of Netanyahu of having “decided to sacrifice the hostages to obtain ‘territorial earnings'”.

“Instead of guaranteeing the release of the hostages through an agreement and ending the war, the Israeli executive is sending more soldiers to Gaza to fight in the same areas where battles have already taken place repeatedly”, denounced the family forum in a note, “worried” that the release of the 59 kidnapped has been “pushed at the bottom of the priorities “, becoming “a secondary goal” for the government.

Meanwhile, hunger looms in Gaza, with bakeries closed due to the growing lack of flour and sugar since Israel has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid to the beginning of March. And from the Council for Human Rights of the United Nations, the sentence for the violation of the agreement of the fire and the resumption of the offensive by Israel, who was invited to take on the responsibility of “preventing the genocide” in the strip, arrived. Among the requests contained in the resolution – approved with 27 votes in favor, 4 against and 16 abstentions – there is also “the revocation of the illegal block” on Gaza.

Ben-Gvir on the esplanade of the mosques

The Minister for National Security and Lander of the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, who this morning, took on petrol on the fire on the fire. Led by the mosques, The Mount of the Temple for the Jews. The controversial initiative, already adopted other times, has aroused the sentence not only of Hamas but also of nearby Jordan, custodian of the sacred place, and Saudi Arabia. It is “a dangerous escalation”, denounced Amman.

And criticism also came from the Ultra -Orthodox parliamentarian of United Torah Judaism, Moshe Gafni, who reminded him of the prohibition for Jews to go to the sacred place.

“You climb the Mount of the Temple to demonstrate sovereignty, but on the contrary the sacredness (of the place) is profane and cause unnecessary instigation in the Muslim world and beyond,” he said, exhorting him to cease it.

Netanyahu departing to meet Orban

Despite the arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court that hangs on his boss, Netanyahu is leaving for Hungary Where tomorrow he will meet Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Israeli premier can be calm, Budapest has already announced that he will not arrest him, despite being a signatory of the Rome Statute.
In these hours also the Foreign Minister Gideon Sàar started in Paris Where he will see the French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot, and high officials, in addition to the French Jewish community. At the center of the interviews, regional developments (Iran, Lebanon, Syria), including the situation in Gaza and that of the hostages, as well as bilateral relations between the two countries. During the absence of Netanyahu, he will take over the minister of justice Yariv Levin.