Israel-Hamas conflict: clashes in Gaza, upcoming discussions on Rafah

The Gaza Strip is the scene this Thursday, March 28, of air raids and fierce clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian Hamas fighters at a time when the government of Benjamin Netanyahu reopens the door to discussions with its American ally on a possible operation in Rafah.

Early Thursday, the Hamas health ministry reported at least 66 deaths in Gaza overnight, including in airstrikes, while a senior local official reported fighting near Gaza City ( north) and Khan Younes (south). An assessment that it is not possible to verify independently. At the same time, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported clashes in different localities in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army, which accuses Hamas fighters of hiding in hospitals, continues its operation launched on March 18 in the al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City. In Khan Younes, soldiers are carrying out operations in the area of ​​Nasser and al-Amal hospitals, approximately one kilometer apart.

The al-Amal hospital “has stopped functioning completely,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said earlier this week after the evacuation of civilians there.

After Gaza City and Khan Younes, Israel wants to continue its land offensive as far as Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, considered to be the last major bastion of Hamas, and where 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together, large majority displaced by violence elsewhere in the territory.

Israel's first ally, the United States fears the human toll of such an operation and prefers other options such as targeted measures against local Hamas leaders. At the same time, Qatar - mediator country with Egypt and the United States - this week ensured the continuation of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas aimed at securing a truce of several weeks in the fighting as well as an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

The war was sparked on October 7 by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas against Israel which resulted in the death of at least 1,160 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. . According to Israel, around 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, of whom 34 are believed to have died.

In retaliation, the Jewish state vowed to “destroy” Hamas and launched a vast operation which left 32,490 people dead, mostly women and minors, according to Hamas. An assessment that it is not possible to verify independently.

The American army announced, overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, that it had shot down four drones launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels who were targeting a United States warship in the Red Sea.

The US military Middle East Command (Centcom) said in a statement published on No injuries or damage were reported, according to the same source.

“These weapons were determined to present an imminent threat to U.S. merchant ships and naval vessels in the region,” the statement added. “These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer” for these same vessels, explains the same source.

In November, the Houthis, backed by Iran, began a campaign of drone and missile strikes against ships in the Red Sea, a region essential for global trade, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians. They then expanded their targets to ships associated with the United States and the United Kingdom, after the strikes carried out by these two countries against their positions in Yemen.