The Israeli army intensively bombed the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, amid the emergence of a major difference in views between Israel and Washington regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the expansion of the conflict and its reach to the coast of Yemen.
In the early hours of Friday, eyewitnesses reported gunfire and air strikes in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, where Israel says several members of the local leadership of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas are hiding.
The Palestinian Red Crescent spoke of "intense" artillery shelling in the "surroundings" of Al-Amal Hospital, at a time when the Hamas Ministry of Health reported that 77 people had been killed and dozens wounded.
The Israeli army said that "soldiers supported by artillery and aviation eliminated dozens of terrorists" in Khan Yunis, noting that it was able to reach "the southernmost area of the Gaza Strip" since the beginning of the ground operation that began in the far north of the Palestinian Strip.
The war that destroyed the Palestinian Strip and displaced more than 80% of its population broke out after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on Official numbers.
In Gaza, where about 80% of the population has been displaced by raids or fighting, the humanitarian situation remains critical. The World Health Organization announced overnight that it had counted 24 cases of hepatitis A, a viral infection of the liver, as well as "thousands" of cases of jaundice syndrome linked "most likely" to the spread of hepatitis.
During the attack, about 250 people were taken hostage and transferred to Gaza, and about 100 of them were released during a truce at the end of November. According to Israel, 132 of them are still in Gaza, and 27 of them are believed to have died.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel pledged to eliminate the movement that has ruled Gaza since 2007. According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 24,620 people have been killed so far in Israeli raids, the vast majority of them women and children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, “We will not be satisfied with anything less than a complete victory, which means eliminating terrorist leaders, destroying Hamas’ operational and military capabilities, returning our hostages to their homes, and disarming the Gaza Strip with full security control for Israel and everything that enters” the Strip. .
He stressed that "victory will require several months," adding, "Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. This is a necessary condition that contradicts the idea of (Palestinian) sovereignty."
When asked about Netanyahu's statements, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby responded, "It is clear that we see things differently."
The United States, Israel's main ally and main supporter in its operation against Hamas, reiterates, for its part, that the establishment and recognition of a viable Palestinian state is necessary to achieve "real security."
During the night, the Israeli army carried out raids in various sectors of the occupied West Bank, especially in Tulkarm, where the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health counted at least six deaths since Wednesday.
In response to Netanyahu's statements, the official spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said, "Without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders, there will be no security and stability in the region."
He added, according to what was reported by the Palestinian News Agency "Wafa", that "the entire region is on the verge of a volcano as a result of the aggressive policies pursued by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights."
The international community fears the expansion of the scope of the conflict, amid daily exchanges of fire on the Israeli-Lebanese border, an increase in Houthi attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and an intensification of US strikes against their positions in Yemen.
The Yemeni rebels announced on Thursday night that they had targeted an American ship in the Gulf of Aden, in response to the American-British strikes on their military sites and in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is witnessing a war with Israel.
For its part, the US military confirmed that the Houthis in Yemen targeted an American commercial ship on Thursday, but said it did not record any casualties or damage.
A statement published by Houthi accounts on social media said, "The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against the American ship (Kim Ranger) in the Gulf of Aden with suitable naval missiles, and the hit was direct."
The Houthis stressed that this operation comes as "a victory for the oppression of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and within the response to the American-British aggression against our country."
The US military command for the Middle East (Centcom) said in a statement on the
She added, "The crew noticed the missiles hitting the water near the ship. No injuries or damage were reported to the ship, which continued sailing."
In an interview with the Russian newspaper "Izvestia" published on Friday, prominent Houthi official Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti confirmed that "the madness and foolishness of the United States and the United Kingdom reflected negatively on them: none of their ships will be able to pass through the main trade routes in the world."
He pointed out, on the other hand, that “for all other countries, including Russia and China, there is no threat to their maritime navigation in the region.”
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