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Israeli soldiers at a tunnel entrance in Gaza
Photo:
Atef Safadi / EPA
The Israeli army and the Islamist Hamas have been fighting in the new Gaza war for almost four months. Israel has now emphasized that it wants to retain security responsibility in the small coastal section for years to come. This will apply "until we are sure that we will no longer be killed by the residents of Gaza," said Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to the "Bild" newspaper, Welt TV and Politico.
According to a media report, at least half of all buildings in the coastal strip on the Mediterranean have been damaged or destroyed in the fighting. As the BBC reported after evaluating satellite data, between 144,000 and 175,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. That is between 50 and 61 percent of all buildings. Meanwhile, the Israeli army confirmed for the first time on Tuesday evening that it had flooded the Islamist Hamas tunnels in the sealed-off coastal area. The Israeli military said the aim was to “neutralize the underground terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”
According to US media, Hamas' entire tunnel network in the Gaza Strip is between 480 and 720 kilometers long. Israel's army confirmed that it had released large amounts of water into such tunnels and spoke of a "significant technical and technological breakthrough" in the fight against terrorism. However, according to information from the US newspaper “Wall Street Journal”, 60 to 80 percent of the underground routes are still intact.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, the number of deaths in the sealed-off coastal area has risen to 26,751 since the start of the war. A spokesman said on Tuesday that 65,636 people have been injured since then. The numbers cannot currently be independently verified. According to the Israeli army, around 10,000 members of terrorist groups have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far. This cannot currently be independently verified.
Dispute over the benefits of UNRWA
Meanwhile, the dispute continues over the involvement of UN employees in the Hamas massacres. According to Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy, at least 13 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were involved in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th. Because of the allegations, several countries have temporarily stopped their payments to the controversial aid organization, including Germany. The aid organization separated from the employees and wants to investigate the allegations.
However, the new UN coordinator for humanitarian aid for those in need in the Gaza Strip, Sigrid Kaag, currently sees “no replacement” for UNRWA. Given, among other things, the capacities and structure of the aid organization that have been built up over decades, there is currently no possibility that any other organization can quickly replace the aid organization, said Kaag on Tuesday in New York.
FDP parliamentary group deputy Michael Link spoke out in favor of a fundamental reorganization of the UN structures in the Middle East. »UNRWA is threatening to become a black hole. Its structure is error-prone and outdated," said Link in Berlin. UNRWA's tasks should be divided between the UN Development Program, the World Food Program and the UN Refugee Agency. The United Nations fears that UNRWA's current funding will not be enough to support the more than two million civilians in Gaza in February.
mrc/dpa