Israel persists in its "Protective Edge" air initiative, and hits one target after another with air raids - now more than 500. Between night and dawn, two hits are achieved that have a lot of symbolic meaning: one is killed of Hamas commanders and Islamic Jihad Colonel Abdullah Dyfallah. Hamas is therefore beheaded, its leadership falters. Yet it says it is ready to fight for months, and in the words of its manager Mahmud a-Zahar, in an interview with a local broadcaster reported by La Stampa, affirms that "A ceasefire will have to respect our conditions, like the lifting of the blockade of Gaza and the release of detainees arrested last month”.
The toll of dead and wounded is growing dramatically compared to yesterday: more than 80 dead, and at least 600 injured. The escalation of this new wave of violence in the centuries-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was harshly condemned by US President Obama in a telephone conversation with Israeli premier Netanyahu, who however clearly ruled out the possibility of a truce in the next few days. On the contrary, Benjamin Netanyahu's strategy is a "progressive intensification" of the conflict that already yesterday brought the contingents of the Israeli Navy, employed in more than half of the raids that have been crowding the skies of the Gaza Strip for almost a week.
