Israel recalls tens of thousands of reservists

Israel recalled tens of thousands of reservists for an expansion of its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Saturday.

Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army neither confirmed or denied this information while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from his extreme right supporters without which he would lose his majority, multiplies the comments go to war.

On Saturday evening, he attacked Qatar, Émirat who leads with Egypt mediation for a truce with Hamas and a hostage liberation agreement held in the Gaza Strip, enjoining him to “cease his double game and his double language”. “Israel will win this legitimate war with legitimate means,” he added, seeming to mean the end of any negotiation.

Qatar “firmly rejects the incendiary declarations” by Benjamin Netanyahu “which are contrary to the most basic rules of political and moral responsibility”, reacted on X spokesperson for Qatari for Foreign Affairs, Majed Al-Ansari.

Since Israel ended on March 18 to two months from a truce in the war launched by the unprecedented attack in Hamas on October 7, 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu ensures that an increased military pressure is the only way to force the Palestinian Islamist movement to make the hostages.

On the contrary, “any intensification of the fighting will place the hostages […] In an immediate danger, ”warned the hostage families forum, Israeli organization of relatives of the captives.

“For the vast majority of Israelis the return of hostages is the first moral priority of the nation,” added the forum in a press release, still deeming possible “reaching an agreement to save lives and prevent more human losses”. The truce allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, including eight dead, in exchange for the release of around 1800 Palestinians held by Israel.

Since March 18, Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip have been daily and the army has regained control of large sections of the territory it had evacuated. After improving during the truce, the humanitarian situation of some 2.4 million Palestinians is again catastrophic.

According to military correspondents of Israeli media, the army began to send mobilization orders to reservists, providing to recall tens of thousands with a view to expanding its offensive. They should replace calls or active soldiers across the country as well as in the occupied West Bank so that they can be sent to fight in Gaza. Relatives of AFP journalists have already received their “TSAV 8” (mobilization order).

According to public television, the Israeli security firm must meet on Sunday with a view to approving the widening of the offensive in Gaza.

The information on the recall of the reservists was published after the armed branch of Hamas broadcast a video in which a man elongated appears, his head and the left arm covered with bandages with brown tasks.

Speaking Hebrew, he presents himself as “prisoner number 24” but was identified as Maxim Herkin, an Israeli-Russian hostage who will be 37 years old. His family published a press release asking the media not to broadcast the video.

On Saturday evening, a few thousand Israelis once again gathered in Tel Aviv. “We want the hostages to come home [et] We do not believe that the war in Gaza today still has the slightest justification, ”Arona Maskil, a 64 -year -old consultant, told AFP.

Before dawn, 11 Palestinians, including three young children were killed in an Israeli strike on the Khan Younès refugee camp, in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to help. The army confirmed, indicating that it has targeted “a Hamas terrorist”.

In the light of torches, rescuers and civilians searched with bare hands in the rubble to extract victims, according to AFP images. One of them leaves by carrying the inanimate body of a very young child.

Israel has submitted the Gaza Strip to a total blockade since March 2. In the absence of entry of the slightest humanitarian aid since that date, UN officials and NGOs are increasing warnings on a risk of famine.