Israel mentioned on Tuesday its troops had been advancing into the Gaza Strip and attacking “lots of” of Hamas targets, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected requires a ceasefire and mentioned it was “a time for battle”.
Israeli troops had been working throughout the north of the Mediterranean enclave, “partaking with Hamas combatants” and “attacking them on the bottom and from the air”, mentioned Jonathan Conricus, spokesperson for the Israel Protection Forces, in a briefing.
Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned the IDF had struck about 300 targets within the enclave over the previous 24 hours, together with anti-tank missile and rocket-launch posts in addition to navy compounds inside underground tunnels. It mentioned there had been “a number of engagements of militant cells”.
In the meantime, Hamas mentioned it had focused two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in north-west Gaza utilizing Al-Yassin 105 missiles, and fired mortars at Israeli infantry troops close to the Kerem Shalom crossing within the south of the strip.
The combating got here as Israel was buoyed by the primary successful rescue of a Hamas captive within the territory. The IDF mentioned Ori Megidish, one in every of 241 hostages Israeli authorities mentioned had been seized by Hamas throughout the October 7 assault, was again together with her household and “doing properly”.
However in an indication of the hazards of the battle spreading throughout the area, air raid sirens went off across the metropolis of Eilat in southern Israel on Tuesday, because the Israeli navy mentioned it had downed an approaching “aerial goal”. An IDF spokesman mentioned there was “no menace or danger to civilians”.
Greater than 1,400 individuals died in Hamas’s bloody rampage via southern Israel, in line with Israeli officers, making it the deadliest assault on Israeli soil within the nation’s 75-year historical past.
Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas and vowing to crush the organisation, which has run Gaza since 2007. Greater than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed within the Israeli bombardment of the strip, in line with the well being ministry in Gaza, and greater than 29,000 injured.
Worldwide support teams have warned of a humanitarian disaster within the impoverished enclave. The UN mentioned basic services were deteriorating and medication, gas, meals and water had been about to expire.
Israel has advised Palestinians residing within the north of Gaza to evacuate to the south, away from what the IDF describes as Hamas’s “centre of gravity”. However support businesses mentioned many individuals, together with the sick and wounded, had been unable to maneuver. They’ve additionally careworn that the south, too, has been hit by Israeli air strikes.
UNRWA, the principle UN company offering aid in Gaza, mentioned greater than 670,000 Palestinians had left their houses in what it described as a “pressured displacement”.
Chatting with the UN Safety Council on Monday night, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini mentioned that they had sought shelter in overcrowded colleges and buildings run by the UN, residing in “appalling, unsanitary circumstances, with restricted meals and water, sleeping on the ground with out mattresses, or outdoors, within the open”.
He mentioned Israel was exacting “collective punishment” on Gaza’s civilian inhabitants. “The extent of destruction is unprecedented, the human tragedy unfolding beneath our watch is insufferable. No place is protected in Gaza.”
Lazzarini mentioned 64 UNRWA employees had been killed in simply over three weeks, the most recent casualty an official killed together with his spouse and eight youngsters.
With the humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza deteriorating, stress has been rising on Israel to pause the combating — an choice Netanyahu has ruled out.
“Requires a ceasefire are a name for Israel to give up to Hamas, to give up to terror, to give up to barbarism. That won’t occur,” he mentioned on Monday night. “The Bible says there’s a time for peace and a time for battle. Now’s the time for battle.”
A senior UN official warned that the battle between Israel and Hamas risked spilling over into Syria, which has not discovered a political resolution to its 12-year battle.
Geir Pedersen, the UN envoy for Syria, advised the Safety Council the Syrian individuals confronted “a terrifying prospect of a possible wider escalation”, following Hamas’s assault and Israel’s retaliation.
“Spillover into Syria isn’t just a danger; it has already begun,” he mentioned.
He pointed to air strikes on airports in Aleppo and Damascus, extensively believed to have been carried out by Israeli forces, and retaliation by the US for what it mentioned had been a number of assaults on its forces “by teams that it claims are backed by Iran, together with on Syrian territory”.
The Israel-Hamas battle has additionally led to a flare-up in hostilities on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the place IDF forces have been engaged in escalating cross-border fireplace with the Iran-backed militant group Hizbollah in current weeks.
Further reporting by Raya Jalabi in Beirut