Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: SAID KHATIB / AFP 9:59 a.m., February 13, 2024, modified at 10:00 a.m., February 13, 2024

128 days after the Hamas attack in Israel, international pressure intensified this Tuesday for a truce agreement including a new release of hostages, after the Israeli announcement of an upcoming offensive on Rafah, the last refuge for more than 'one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

THE ESSENTIAL

The director of the CIA, the American central intelligence agency, William Burns, is expected in Cairo on Tuesday for new talks mediated by Qatar relating in particular to the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to sources close to the case. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered his army to prepare an offensive on Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are massed, according to the UN, more than half of the territory's total population, most of them having fled the war that has been raging for four months.

The main information to remember:

  • International pressure intensifies for a truce agreement including a new release of hostages, after the Israeli announcement of an upcoming offensive on Rafah

  • Hamas announced a new death toll of 28,473 since the start of the Israeli response

  • Faced with international fears of a major military offensive, Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed that Israel would open "a secure passage" to the population to leave Rafah

New death toll of 28,473 according to Hamas

He repeated on Monday his determination to continue "military pressure until complete victory" on Hamas, of which Rafah is the "last bastion", to free "all our hostages". A few hours earlier, Israel had released two hostages, Israeli-Argentinians, in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, during a night operation accompanied by bombings which left around a hundred dead, according to the authorities of the Palestinian Islamist movement. , in power in Gaza since 2007.

The Israeli army announced on Tuesday the death of three soldiers in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, bringing to 232 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the ground operation on October 27. Hamas, for its part, announced a new death toll of 28,473.

“Unbearable” humanitarian situation

The United States, Israel's main ally, opposes a large-scale operation without a solution for civilians stuck on the closed border with Egypt in the territory's far south. US President Joe Biden called for a "credible" plan from Israeli forces to spare civilians in Rafah who are "exposed and vulnerable", during a meeting Monday at the White House with the King of Jordan Abdullah II.

He further thanked Jordan for providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, particularly "a few days ago." Abdullah II "personally boarded a plane and helped airdrop urgent medical supplies to Gaza." “We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah”, where the humanitarian situation is already “unbearable”, said Abdallah II, who also called for “an immediate lasting ceasefire” in Gaza.

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The two hostages released Monday in “stable” condition

“The United States is working on an agreement to release the hostages (…), which would immediately bring a period of calm of at least six weeks in Gaza,” for his part indicated the American president, whose administration rejects a truce unconditional. China, for its part, on Tuesday called on Israel to stop its military operation in Rafah “as quickly as possible,” in order to “prevent an even more serious humanitarian catastrophe.”

The condition of the two hostages released on Monday, Fernando Marman, 60, and Luis Har, 70, is stable but after 128 days of captivity, they show "obvious signs" of "lack of medical care", according to a spokesperson. word from the hospital near Tel Aviv where they were admitted and reunited with their loved ones. According to Israel, 130 hostages are still in Gaza, 29 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on October 7. A week-long truce in November allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinians detained by Israel.

Where to evacuate Palestinian civilians taking refuge in Rafah?

Faced with international fears of a major military offensive, Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed on Sunday that Israel would open "a secure passage" to the population to leave Rafah, without specifying to which destination. "They are going to evacuate" the Palestinians: "Where? On the Moon?", asked the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell in Brussels. The UN will not be associated with “a forced population displacement” in Rafah, warned Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary general.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of Israel's most critical leaders since the start of his operation in Gaza, was also expected in Dubai on Tuesday and in Cairo on Wednesday. Hamas warned on Sunday that an offensive on Rafah would "torpedo" any agreement on the hostages. Around 1.7 million people, according to the UN, out of a total of 2.4 million inhabitants, have fled their homes since October 7 in the Palestinian territory besieged by Israel and plunged into a major humanitarian crisis. Rafah, which has become a gigantic encampment, is the main entry point for humanitarian aid, insufficient to meet the needs of the population who live in "conditions close to famine", according to the World Food Program (WFP).