An endless escape for the inhabitants of Gaza continues as thousands of Palestinians fled Gaza City on Monday. The Israeli army has deployed tanks and called for the evacuation of new neighborhoods, while intense fighting raged under bombardment. Nine months after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered on October 7 by the unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement Hamas against Israel, new discussions for a truce are set to begin this week in Qatar and Egypt, two of the mediating countries along with the United States.
In the north of the Palestinian territory, Israeli tanks stormed several neighborhoods of Gaza City on Monday, supported by airstrikes and drones. On foot or in carts, thousands of residents fled, according to witnesses and Civil Defense, thrown once again onto dusty paths, under the incessant drone of drones. The army issued calls to evacuate for the third time since June 27, now targeting neighborhoods in the center of the city after those in the east, such as Choujaiya.
The ongoing fighting is described as 'the most intense in months' by Hamas' military wing. Civil Defense reported 'dozens' of dead and injured, though they could not reach the targeted neighborhoods due to the intensity of the shooting. In the south of the territory, the army indicated that it had 'eliminated more than 30 terrorists' in Rafah and struck rocket launch sites in Khan Younes.
After months of indirect negotiations remained in vain, a new round of discussions with a view to a ceasefire associated with the release of hostages must begin 'very probably' on Wednesday in Doha with the participation of the three mediating countries. The heads of the CIA, William Burns, and the Israeli intelligence services, David Barnea, are expected in Doha on Wednesday to meet the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani. Israeli and American delegations are also expected in Cairo.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed that 'any agreement would allow Israel to fight until all the objectives of the war are achieved,' namely the destruction of Hamas and the release of all hostages. Hamas accused Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of obstructing the negotiations and 'raising new obstacles.' Its political leader, Ismaïl Haniyeh, warned the mediators that 'the massacres, the murders, the displacements' committed in Gaza City and the 'catastrophic consequences' of the current events could 'return the negotiations to square one.'
The war broke out on October 7, when Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians. Of the 251 people then kidnapped, 116 are still being held in Gaza, 42 of whom are dead, according to the Israeli army. In response, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union.
The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has so far killed 38,193 people, mostly civilians, including at least 40 in 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government. The war threatens to spread to Lebanon, after an intensification of shooting on the border between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah, supported by Iran and ally of Hamas. On Monday, the army counted 24 shots from Lebanon and indicated that they were targeting Hezbollah military installations in southern Lebanon in retaliation.
In a related development, several thousand Moroccans demonstrated on Sunday in Tangier in support of the Palestinian cause and against normalization with Israel. 'Gaza is not alone,' chanted the demonstrators, carrying numerous Palestinian flags, as they marched through the main arteries of the city of Tangier at the call of the Moroccan Front in support of Palestine and against normalization, which brings together left-wing parties and Islamist movements.
Organizers chose Tangier to protest the 'stopover' in early June of a new Israeli navy landing ship at the city's port while sailing from the United States to Israel. This information has not been confirmed by the Moroccan authorities. Rabat announced on June 24 the deployment by land of aid of 40 tonnes of medical products for the population of Gaza. Demonstrators also demanded 'the fall of normalization' with Israel, sealed in December 2020 in exchange for recognition by the United States of Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
