No hostage will be released without "targeted negotiations": Hamas warns Israel while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues an ultimatum to the militiamen to surrender rather than "die for Yahya Sinwar", the leader of the faction in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the UN and its organizations are once again attacking Israel for the humanitarian situation in the Strip which is now close to "catastrophe" and where half the population, according to the deputy director of the World Food Programme, Carl Skau, is "dying of hunger". "We are running a serious risk of collapse of the humanitarian system, the situation is rapidly turning into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for the Palestinians", denounced the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, also criticizing the stalemate of the Security Council after the Americans vetoed the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Even the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, spoke of "hell on earth" to describe the scenario in Gaza.
And yesterday, Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in the Strip in a tense 50-minute phone call, the first since last October 10th. The first expressed disappointment to the Russian president for Moscow's positions at the UN against Israel and for the "dangerous" relations maintained with Iran. While the Tsar returned to criticize the "terrible consequences" of the war on civilians. In any case, for Netanyahu we are «at the beginning of the end of Hamas. To the terrorists - was the appeal launched by the Israeli Prime Minister - I say it's over, don't die for Sinwar, surrender now".
On the ground, the fighting is becoming increasingly intense in the north - from Jabalya to Sajaya (where the army killed Amad Krika, commander of the local Battalion) - and in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip.
(Unioneonline/ss)
