Israel persists in its offensive on Gaza

The escalating conflict is entering its fifth consecutive day of clashes between Israel and Hamas, with violence continuing to escalate with no sign of a ceasefire despite constant calls from the international community. The Gaza Strip has suffered one of the worst offensives since the escalation began on Monday.

For 40 minutes, 50 rounds of air and ground bombardment ravaged the Gaza Strip. The operation, which began in the early hours of the morning, involved 160 aircraft, artillery and infantry targeting enclaves belonging to Palestinian militias.

According to sources from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the death toll has risen to 119, including 31 children and 19 women, and more than 830 wounded. For its part, the United Nations (UN) has issued a statement confirming that at least four buildings of the Palestine refugee programme (UNRWA) were damaged by military operations. More than a thousand rockets fired by Hamas into Israel have killed at least seven Israelis. 

In the midst of all this tension, last night the Hebrew Defence Forces confirmed the firing of three rockets from Lebanon's southern border into Israel, adding a new actor to the conflict. Although all indications were that the Lebanese militia Hezbollah was responsible, the action has been attributed to a small Palestinian group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already announced that the offensive will continue "until it is necessary to restore calm to the State of Israel". Indeed, the shadow of a ground operation hangs over Gaza. Army chief General Avi Kochavi ordered the deployment of three brigades to the border, while the Southern Division General Staff mobilised more than 9,000 reservists, pending a firm decision.

The Israeli army has already announced that it will continue to attack targets in the enclave on Friday. Among these targets are the tunnels in Gaza, which the army says Hamas uses to move and launch attacks against Israel. In addition to air and ground offensives, "targeted assassinations" are also being carried out against senior Hamas officials and Islamic Jihad, the militia's armed wing. Among the most prominent names is that of Mohamed Deif, leader of Hamas's military wing. 

The escalation of violence has also spread to several Israeli cities where clashes between the Arab and Jewish populations are intensifying. The daily Ynet reported that Israel "appears to have called for nationwide control of the unrest". Cities with Arab populations, such as Ramle, Acre, Jaffa, Jisr al-Zarqa and Umm al-Fahm or Lod, are suffering from the escalating violence as attacks between Gaza and Israel intensify. The violence has reached such an extent that in the city of Lod, 15 km from Tel Aviv, the Netanyahu government has had to impose a state of emergency.

In this context of extreme tension, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has encouraged Palestinian citizens in the occupied territories as well as Israeli Arabs to demonstrate this Friday, coinciding with the second day of Eid al-Fitr. Haniyeh made the call in the face of the possibility of another Israeli ground invasion similar to the one in 2014.

In the face of all this, the international community seems incapable of reaching a joint resolution, following the US veto in the National Security Council "on the grounds that it would not be useful in de-escalating the conflict". For their part, Tunisia, Norway and China have called for a new emergency meeting of the Council, which will take place next Sunday and is expected to be attended by the UN Middle East envoy, Norway's Tor Wennesland, as well as representatives of Israel and Palestine.

US President Joe Biden has made clear his full support for Israel in a phone call to current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said that "Israel has the right to defend itself when thousands of missiles are fired at its territory".

However, the EU member states of the Council (France, Estonia and Ireland), together with Norway, have issued a joint statement condemning the attacks on Israeli towns launched from Gaza and calling the high numbers of civilian casualties, including children, in Israel's attacks "unacceptable".