Middle East: the Israeli army says it expects a “one-week” operation in Gaza – Le Figaro

UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – This is the worst confrontation between the Jewish state and armed organizations in Gaza since the eleven-day war in May 2021, which left 260 dead on the Palestinian side. Arrests were also made in the West Bank. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip and Israel continued their exchange of fire on Saturday, which has already left a dozen Palestinians dead, the worst outbreak of violence between the two enemies since a blitzkrieg. year. At 08:30 local time (05:30 GMT), as rocket warnings continued to sound in Israeli towns adjacent to the blockaded Palestinian territory, Gaza City was paralyzed, streets deserted and shops closed, after an AFP journalist on the spot.SEE ALSO – Middle East: new outbreak of violence between Israel and GazaRead alsoIsrael relaunches colonization, inflaming tensionsThe Israeli army continues its strikes across the enclave which have targeted sites belonging to the Islamic Jihad, in particular of manufacture of weapons, according to it. Fifteen fighters were killed in the raids that began on Friday afternoon, the army estimated, while Gaza authorities reported 12 dead, including a five-year-old girl, and more than 80 wounded. from Gaza also continued, with no casualties or damage, according to the army. The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds brigades, said on Friday after a salvo of more than 100 rockets towards Israeli soil that it was only a “first response” to the assassination of a of its leaders in an Israeli strike. An Israeli defense battery that is part of the Iron Dome, a system designed to intercept rockets fired from Gaza. JACK GUEZ / AFPOvernight, Israeli forces also arrested in the West Bank, territory occupied since 1967 by the Jewish state, 19 members of Islamic Jihad, an Islamist organization considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union. Egyptian mediation It was the arrest earlier this week of a leader of the group in the occupied West Bank that led to this new armed confrontation. The Israeli authorities said they feared retaliatory actions from Gaza, a microterritory ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas and where Islamic Jihad is well established, and launched a “preventive attack”. Jewish state and armed organizations in Gaza since the 11-day war in May 2021, which left 260 dead on the Palestinian side, including fighters, and 14 dead in Israel, including a soldier, according to local authorities. read alsoPierre-André Taguieff: “Accusing Israel of apartheid is Islamo-leftist propaganda”Egypt, a historic intermediary between Israel and the armed groups in Gaza, is trying to establish mediation “in order to calm the situation and preserve lives and property” and could host an Islamic Jihad delegation on Saturday, Egyptian officials told AFP in Gaza. But an Israeli military spokesman quickly denied these remarks by indicating that the army “is not currently conducting negotiations for a ceasefire”. “Relentlessly” After the first raids, the Islamic Jihad accused the Jewish state of having “started a war”. “The Zionist enemy started this aggression and must expect us to fight relentlessly,” said its secretary general, Ziad al-Nakhala, in an interview with Lebanese television Al-Mayadeen in Tehran. Iranian capital. “Israel has carried out a precise counter-terrorism operation against an immediate threat”, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid declared on television on Friday, accusing the armed group of being “an auxiliary of Iran which wants to destroy the State of Israel and kill innocent Israelis”. “We will do whatever it takes to defend our people,” he said. The Arab League denounced in a statement on Saturday “the fierce Israeli aggression”, while Jordanian diplomacy “stressed the importance of ending” this “aggression”. the death of an Islamic Jihad commander in an Israeli operation had led to several days of deadly exchanges of fire between the armed group and Israel. Hamas, which has fought the Jewish state in four wars since taking power in 2007, had kept its distance from the clashes. Since 2007, Israel has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza, an enclave of 2.3 million inhabitants undermined by poverty and unemployment. Intervention of firefighters after an Israeli strike on Gaza on August 5th. MOHAMMED ABED / AFPIn recent days, Israel had deployed reinforcements near the enclave and on Tuesday ordered the closure of border crossings, forcing thousands of Gazans, holders of work permits in Israel, to stay at home. Diesel deliveries to Gaza’s only power plant have been blocked and it “has ceased (to operate) due to a shortage”, the electricity company said on Saturday. “masquerade” trial for the assassins of Nizar Banat Around 50 people who normally leave the enclave daily for treatment have also been affected, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). SEE ALSO – Raids in Gaza: an operation directed against an “immediate threat”, says the Israeli Prime Minister