Ariane Ménage with AFP / Photo credit: DAWOUD ABO ALKAS / ANADOLU / ANADOLU VIA AFP 10:24 a.m., March 18, 2024

If hopes of a truce for Ramadan have been swept away by Hamas and Israel, negotiations in Qatar continue.

At the same time, the Israeli army continues its raids in the Gaza Strip.

This Monday, it is carrying out an operation on the al-Chifa hospital in Gaza, the second since the Hamas attack last October.

THE ESSENTIAL

While a delegation led by the head of Mossad is expected in Qatar to continue negotiations for a truce, Israel announces an operation on the al-Chifa hospital in Gaza, the second since the start of the conflict.

The operation was launched in the middle of the night and is apparently still ongoing.

The al-Chifa hospital is the largest in the Gaza Strip, where there are "tens of thousands" of displaced people according to Hamas, with witnesses on site confirming to AFP that they heard bombings.

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Arrests of 80 suspects

“The operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists,” reported an Israeli army statement Monday morning.

On the spot, witnesses confirmed to AFP "air operations" in the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City where the health establishment is located in which "shrapnel" allegedly fell.

Neighborhood residents claimed that "more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers" had entered al-Rimal.

Some also report “fights” around the hospital.

The Israeli army speaks through loudspeakers to residents, asking them to stay at home while "drones shoot at people in the streets near the hospital", according to witnesses on site interviewed by AFP.

Israel announced this Monday morning that it had arrested around 80 suspects.

At this stage, there is no additional information on the identity of these senior officers.

Since October 7, Israel has made tracking down Hamas leaders in Gaza one of its war objectives.

A new report from Hamas shows 31,726 deaths in the Gaza Strip since Israel's response.

The Rafah offensive “will take place”

Most of the 1.7 million displaced by the war according to the UN have found refuge in the town of Rafah (south) located on Egypt's closed border and bombarded daily by the Israeli army.

While reaffirming his determination to launch a ground military offensive in Rafah, "the last bastion of Hamas" according to Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu assured Sunday that such an operation will not be carried out "by leaving the population locked in place".

The international community fears the prospect of such an assault.

Washington, Israel's main ally, reiterates its opposition to any offensive in Rafah which would endanger the civilians who are refugees there.

“No international pressure will prevent us from achieving all the objectives of our war (…) We will act in Rafah, it will take a few weeks but it will happen,” Netanyahu declared, according to his services.

“Let the bombs stop”

The Palestinians “need the bombs to stop,” declared Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, pleading on Sunday for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Residents “desperately need food, medicine and shelter,” he added.

Israel controls the entry of land aid into Gaza, which remains very insufficient given the immense needs of the 2.4 million inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are threatened with famine according to the UN.

According to the NGO Oxfam, Israel is "deliberately" preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, whether food or medical equipment, in violation of international humanitarian law.

In a report published Monday, the NGO denounces "unfairly ineffective" aid inspection protocols and even "attacks on humanitarian personnel, aid structures and humanitarian convoys."

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A new truce refused by Israel

The mediating countries - United States, Qatar, Egypt - are trying to reach a new truce after that of a week at the end of November.

Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not accept a deal “that leaves Israel weak and incapable of defending itself.”

Hamas said it was ready, in a new proposal, for a six-week truce, during which 42 hostages - women, children, the elderly and the sick - would be released in exchange for 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released.

It also demands "the withdrawal of the army from towns and populated areas", the "return of the displaced" and the entry of 500 aid trucks per day into Gaza, according to one of its executives.