Over fifty dead, according to Hamas, in Israel's night raids in Gaza. Israeli soldiers are increasingly closer to the Strip: there no longer appears to be any resistance to the start of the operation despite international pressure. The military spokesman said troops, both those already serving and reservists, were continuing preparations for the "next phase of the war, including the ground operation." In recent days - he explained - the plans for operational activities have been "approved" and the soldiers "are deployed in the field" . And Army Chief of Staff Heri Halevi was even clearer: «We will enter Gaza. We will begin an operational and professional mission to destroy Hamas agents, Hamas infrastructure." "We will also go in and keep in mind the images, the scenes and the fallen from Shabbat two weeks ago."
While an air attack would also have been conducted by the Israeli army on the airports of Damascus and Aleppo, Iran has warned Israel and the US about the risk that the Middle Eastern situation could become "uncontrollable" . And Israel responds with the Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat who speaks of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Tehran's allies: «Iran's plan is to attack Israel on all fronts. If we realize that they want to attack Israel, not only on all our fronts, we will attack the head of the serpent, Iran ."
The Rafah crossing with Gaza was also opened today : seventeen humanitarian trucks crossed the Egyptian border crossing, which opened yesterday after two weeks of negotiations. This is the second convoy in two days destined for Palestinian territory since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. But it is still not enough: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres denounced that «the population of Gaza needs a commitment to much more: a continuous supply of aid to the extent necessary. We are working tirelessly with all stakeholders to make it happen." Then from the Cairo Peace Conference he called for "a humanitarian truce" given "the humanitarian catastrophe". "On the other side of the border - he insisted - there are two million people, including children, who need help".
Conference which was also attended by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who then flew to Tel Aviv and met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu : «I am happy to be here. I thought it was very important to come here in person to bring the solidarity of the Italian government and the Italian people, and to tell you that from the images we have seen it is incredible for us what happened two weeks ago. They show something more than just a war, they show a desire to erase the Jews from this region and it is an act of anti-Semitism . And we must fight it, today as yesterday."
(Unioneonline/D)