2023-12-29 01:01:55
The Israeli Army continued its offensive in Gaza this Thursday, where heavy fighting with Hamas continues and deaths increase, in a context in which Israel assumes that its operations will last for a long time and must begin to plan a medium-term scenario.
While Hamas is spreading videos showing its militias carrying out ambushes and attacking Israeli troops and tanks, the The Army continues to carry out operations in the north, center and south of the Strip, including in the southern city of Khan Yuniswhere Israeli forces “carry out unprecedented missions,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday.
“Our forces reach areas where we have never been before, taking control rooms and eliminating terrorists,” added Gallant, during a visit to the headquarters of the 98th Division, a military body now fighting in the Khan Yunis area. .
In turn, the troops intensify their military incursion in the southern area of the Strip, an operation that they began weeks ago, also focusing there on reaching “the command centers, weapons depots and production facilities” of weapons of the militias.
(AP)
All of this, Gallant reiterated, with “the task of dismantling Hamas so that it no longer has military or government capacity,” an end for which Israeli forces must demonstrate “a lot of perseverance and determination.”
Since the start of the ground invasion in Gaza on October 27, At least 167 Israeli soldiers have died, while the number of military personnel – both active and reservists – has died since the Hamas attack on October 7, it exceeded 500 this Thursday.
All this, while Israel’s attacks and bombings continued to cause hundreds of Palestinian deaths in the last few hours, more than 21,300 in the more than two and a half months of the offensive, to which is added a humanitarian crisis caused by the harsh siege. Israeli attack on Gaza, which has left it with great shortages of food, essential resources, medicine, drinking water or gasoline for electricity.
According to the official Wafa news agency, Dozens of Palestinians died this Thursday due to bombings on homes in southern Gaza, an area where a large part of the 1.9 million internally displaced people in the enclave are concentrated.
In the city of Rafah, the southernmost point of the enclave, “at least 20 citizens were killed and dozens injured as a result of an Israeli bombing that targeted a house.”
Israeli warplanes also “launched attacks against a house in the Shaboura refugee camp” in Rafah, which also caused “dozens of deaths and injuries, most of them women and children,” Wafa stated. On the other hand, more than 25 people died in several attacks on Khan Yunis, the same source detailed.
At the same time, among other incidents, attacks were reported in the northern towns of Beit Hanoun or Beit Lahiawhich also included dozens of fatalities, while Israeli troops continue to attack the Al Maghazi refugee camp, in the city of Deir Balah, in central Gaza, the object of almost constant bombing in recent days.
The medical services of the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that their teams took three dead and six wounded to hospital after attacks on a house in the Al Maghazi camp.
Its medical teams are also now working with the Egyptian Red Crescent to create a camp for displaced people in the Khan Younis area, which is expected to reach 1,000 tents.
(AP)
All of this occurs while Israel has to plan its medium-term actions in Gaza, and a post-war plan that for now does not seem to be determined, which causes concern to its main ally, the United States.
Just this Thursday, the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin spoke with Gallant and discussed aspects of “preparations for the stabilization phase that must follow combat operations,” the Pentagon reported.
The White House is reportedly pressuring Israel to reduce the intensity of the attacks on Gaza, although Gallant recently said that these could continue for several more months.
On the other hand, according to the Israeli press, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was due to hold a meeting of his War Cabinet this Thursday to address possible plans for the post-war in Gaza, although he finally canceled the meeting, while the Israeli Government continues without giving clear details about who intends to have power in Gaza or how its reconstruction should be managed.
According to Israeli media, Netanyahu did not want to hold meetings to address this issue until now, which worries the Biden Administration, which fears that the Israeli Army will remain stuck inside the enclave indefinitely.
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