Israel plans the future of Gaza. “The Palestinians will govern the Strip, not the Israelis,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared to reporters before a divided war cabinet, preceded by press previews of his plan for the post-Hamas, while growing tension tension and fears that the conflict, which continues to claim victims in Gaza, will spread to the rest of the region.
After the targeted raids in Lebanon to kill the number two of the Palestinian faction Saleh al Arouri and in Syria at the end of December against Seyed Razi Mousavi, an important member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, this time a drone attack was conducted by the US in Iraq, where two members of the coalition of pro-Iranian armed groups Hashd al Shaabi were eliminated and seven others were injured.
In this context - and while ISIS reappears on the scene claiming responsibility for the double suicide bombing with dozens of victims on the tomb of General Qasem Soleimani in Iran - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to the region, for the fourth time since 7 October, with stops in five Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates), Israel, the West Bank, but also Turkey and Greece. According to his spokesperson, he will insist on "immediately" increasing humanitarian aid to the Strip, but he is also expected to reiterate to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States will oppose any hypothesis of forced transfer of Palestinians from Gaza to third countries to make room to new colonies, evoked by his far-right ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich.
Israel's raids also continue in Gaza where, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, the death toll since October 7 has risen to 22,438. At least 12 people were killed in the bombing that destroyed a house in Mawasi, in the south of the Strip, in an area that the Israeli army had declared a safe zone. According to officials at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, among the victims are a couple with their 7 children, plus three other children, all between 5 and 14 years of age.
(Unioneonline)
