The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for foreign policy and security, Josep Borelj, assessed today that the situation in the Gaza Strip is "catastrophic, apocalyptic" and that the destruction is proportionally "even greater" than that in Germany during the Second World War.
After the meeting of the EU foreign affairs ministers, Borelj said that the consequence of the Israeli military response to the Hamas attacks on October 7 was "an incredible number of civilian victims".
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced today that 7 people have died in the Israeli bombing of the Palestinian territory since the beginning of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Hamas on October 18.205.
The EU's top representative said the deadly attacks by Hamas cemented the organization's place on the EU's terrorist list, but added that he considered the Israeli military operation disproportionate due to the deaths of many civilians and extensive damage to civilian property and infrastructure.
He emphasized that human suffering represents an unprecedented challenge for the international community, and that civilian victims make up 60 to 70 percent of the total number of dead and that 85 percent of the population is internally displaced.
"The destruction of buildings in Gaza is proportionally more or less greater than the destruction suffered by German cities during the Second World War," Borelj said.
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Israel said today that it will increase security checks on supplies sent to the Gaza Strip to increase the volume of humanitarian aid, Reuters reports.
Israel's military said the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza would be opened for "security screening to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza."
Trucks carrying water, food, medical supplies and shelter equipment will be inspected there, it said, and then proceed to Egypt, where the supplies will enter Gaza.
The United States expects any country to which it provides arms to use aid in accordance with the laws of war, and Israel is no exception, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, after Washington said on Saturday it was authorizing the sale of about 14.000 anti-tank grenades.
Mueller also told reporters today that US special envoy David Satterfield held meetings over the weekend with the Israelis asking them to do more about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the health ministry said 18.205 people have now been killed and 49.645 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza, in just over two months of war.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galan said today that Israel has no intention of staying in the Gaza Strip permanently and is open to discussing alternatives about who will control the territory, as long as it is not a group hostile to Israel, reports Reuters.
Galan also said Israel was open to possibly reaching an agreement with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, provided the agreement included a safe zone along the border and appropriate guarantees.
The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Filipe Lazarini, told CNN today that the agency's staff in the Gaza Strip feel "abandoned by the international community" after the US vetoed a resolution calling for an immediate end. fire in that little enclave.
"It is more than a disappointment. They feel abandoned by the international community. They still cannot understand why, after 17.000 people have been killed, when almost the entire population has been displaced, we still cannot agree on a ceasefire." , said Lazarini in El Arish, Egypt.
The head of UNRWA stressed that the employees feel "deep dissatisfaction, disappointment and appalled" by the failure of the UN to adopt the resolution, adding that "the system in Gaza is teetering on the edge of collapse".
Gaza is "very close to a breakdown in civil order" that will make it impossible for the agency to operate, Lazarini said, noting that some civilians in Gaza are stealing from warehouses in desperation.
"Too many people have not eaten for two, three days now in the Gaza Strip. The more we witness the breakdown of civil order, the more (UNRWA) will be in danger of not being able to function anymore," said the head of the UN Agency.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamic Hamas, announced today that the number of victims in Israeli bombings since the beginning of the war on October 7 has exceeded 18.000.
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The European Union will propose to EU governments to impose sanctions on extremist settlers who commit acts of violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the EU's high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, Reuters reports.
"We will work on proposing sanctions against extremist settlers on the West Bank," Borelj said at a press conference today after the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The Prime Ministers of Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Malta have called on the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to start a "serious debate" this week on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, according to a letter seen by the Brussels-based Politiko portal.
"We must urgently call on all parties to declare a permanent humanitarian ceasefire that can lead to a cessation of hostilities. It is time for the European Union to act. Our credibility is at stake," the four leaders wrote.
Although it is planned that the summit of the European Council this week will be more focused on Ukraine, the prime ministers, having in mind the scale of destruction in the Middle East, assessed that it is their "imperative to hold a serious debate about the war" in Gaza at that meeting.
The goal should be agreement on a "clear and firm UN position," they wrote to Charles Michel.
So far, the EU has only tried to come up with common positions on the conflict in the Middle East.
There is no paragraph on Gaza in the draft conclusions of the upcoming summit, which shows that it is difficult to agree on a common language for the 27 member countries of the bloc, Politiko reports.
At a previous meeting of EU leaders in October, they agreed to call for "humanitarian pauses" in the war.
An unnamed EU official said the letter would further complicate the debate, given how divisive the issue is already.
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At least 18.205 people have been killed and 49.645 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the conflict on October 7, the Gaza Health Ministry said today, Reuters reports.
Israeli soldiers clashed today with Palestinian extremists in the two largest cities in the Gaza Strip, where there are still civilians even though hundreds of thousands have fled to other parts of the besieged territory - the AP news agency reported.
Israel has pledged to continue the war until it ousts Hamas, destroys the Palestinian Islamic organization's military capabilities and returns all hostages taken in the extremists' October 7 surprise attack on southern Israeli territory.
The US has given unwavering diplomatic and military support to Israel's goals, even as it has called for a reduction in civilian casualties and mass displacement.
Thousands of Palestinian civilians have died in the war and nearly 85 percent of Gaza's population of 2,3 million have left their homes.
Residents said today that fierce fighting is taking place in the south in the city of Khan Yunis and its surroundings, the target of Israeli attacks since last Sunday, while clashes are still ongoing in parts of Gaza City and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, where large areas have been razed to the ground.
In the central part of Gaza, a residential building in which about 80 people were in the Magazi refugee camp collapsed last night, eyewitnesses said.
One neighbor who dug through the rubble to find survivors said he knew of only six people who managed to get out and that they "stayed under the building".
In Khan Younis, there were Israeli strikes around the European Hospital, where, according to the UN Humanitarian Office, tens of thousands of people took refuge.
Hamas is believed to have suffered heavy losses, but today a barrage was fired at Israel and missile warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, and one person suffered minor injuries and damage was caused to the road, buildings and vehicles in the suburbs, reported is AP.
Agence France-Presse states that the target of new attacks today was Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have taken refuge fleeing the fighting in the north.
The Hamas health ministry said dozens of people were killed across the Palestinian territory, including Khan Yunis, Rafah, Gaza City and the Jabalia, Nuseirat and Maghazi camps.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Hamas fighters last night that "this is the end" and called on them to lay down their arms, confirming that many had surrendered in recent days.
The war has also had the effect of increasing tensions in the region, particularly on Israel's northern border with southern Lebanon, home to the pro-Iranian Shiite Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.
The Israeli army announced that rockets were fired from Lebanon again today, prompting Israeli artillery fire.
In Syria, an Israeli plane carried out strikes in the vicinity of Damascus during the night, and the targets were Hezbollah, which is fighting in that country on the side of the Syrian president's forces.
Four people were killed, according to the UK-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war.
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More than 100 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, the army announced today.
The identity of three more Israeli soldiers killed in the fighting in the Gaza Strip was also announced.
When asked by Agence France-Presse, it was specified that 101 soldiers have died so far in the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza.
The Hamas offensive began on October 7, and the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza began 20 days later.
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The foreign ministers of Italy, France and Germany, in a joint letter to the EU's high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borello, called on Brussels to introduce ad hoc sanctions against Hamas and its supporters.
"We express our full support for the proposal to create an ad hoc sanctions regime against Hamas and its supporters," the letter, seen by Reuters, said.
"The speedy adoption of this sanctions regime will allow us to send a strong political message about the EU's commitment to the fight against Hamas and our solidarity with Israel," the letter states.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he criticized Western leaders, telling his cabinet they were not consistent in supporting Israel's war goal of destroying Hamas.
Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting that he told the leaders of France, Germany and other countries that they cannot support the elimination of Hamas on the one hand, while on the other they press for an end to the war that would prevent the elimination of Hamas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced on social media that the fighting was taking place near El Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
"Today at dawn, the occupation planes carried out several violent attacks near the El Amal hospital, and the artillery shelling of the city center and the headquarters of that organization, where 13.000 displaced people are housed, continued," according to the announcement on the Ix platform.
Conflict between Israel and Hamas - 66th day.
Today, the Gaza Strip is the target of strong Israeli airstrikes, which occur at a time of threats by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that they will not release the remaining "alive" hostages without negotiations and that they are demanding the fulfillment of all their demands.
Tonight, strong airstrikes were carried out on the city of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, which is the new epicenter of the war, reports the reporter of Agence France-Presse.
Islamic Jihad, the other armed Islamist movement in Gaza, said heavy fighting was taking place in an area of Gaza City, claiming that one of its fighters had blown up a building where Israeli soldiers were trying to find an entrance to an underground tunnel.
The Israeli army announced today that rockets were fired from Gaza, as well as that "fierce battles" took place yesterday in the sectors of Gaza City and in Khan Yunis where, as stated, Palestinian fighters "come out of tunnels", "have explosives" and shoot from rocket launchers.
"I don't want to say that we are using full force, but we are using considerable force and we have considerable results," Israel's Chief of General Staff, Herzi Halevi, said yesterday.
The Palestinian movement Hamas warned yesterday that none of the hostages abducted during the October 7 attack and still being held in the Gaza Strip will leave "alive" without negotiations and "without answers to their demands".
The war began after the sudden attacks of Palestinian extremists, led by Hamas, on October 7 in the south of Israel, in which more than 1.200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 240 hostages were taken.
The Israeli military said 137 hostages were still being held in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Hamas health ministry announced last night a new death toll - 17.997 dead in Gaza.
The truce of Sunday at the end of November allowed the release of about 240 of the 137 hostages held by Hamas and affiliated groups. After the ceasefire, Israel announced that it wanted to establish a balance of power in its favor on the ground to free the remaining XNUMX hostages in the Gaza Strip.
In the Gaza Strip, the civilian population has been forced into a shrinking territory where the health system is on the verge of collapse according to the World Health Organization, while the number of victims continues to rise.
In Gaza, entire neighborhoods have been turned into ruins by the bombings and the population is desperately trying to escape the fighting by going south. According to the UN, 1,9 million people were displaced in that war, which is 85 percent of the population of that territory.
The Israeli military is asking Gaza civilians to go to "safe zones" to avoid fighting.
"It is a unilateral statement by the occupying forces, according to which the territories without infrastructure, food, water, health care... have been declared 'safe zones', which does not mean that they really are," said the UN Humanitarian Operations Coordinator for the Palestinian Territories. Lynn Hastings.
Thousands of Gaza residents are fleeing as best they can in cars or trucks, on foot... The border town with Egypt, Rafah, has been turned into a huge refugee camp where hundreds of tents have been hastily erected.
Following the failure of the UN Security Council to vote on a humanitarian ceasefire on Friday, as Washington blocked the resolution with a veto, the General Assembly is due to meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation in Gaza.
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