2023-10-29 11:24:00
The Israeli Army increased its troops in the Gaza Strip, where it is fighting the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas after its attacks this month in Israel, a military spokesperson announced this Sunday.
“During the night (Saturday) we increased” the number of Army forces destined to enter the Gaza Strip “and they joined those already fighting there,” declared General Daniel Hagari.
Israel entered a “new phase” of the conflict with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, by tightening its ground operation with sending tanks and infantry backed by attacks from the air and sea that made the “ground shake” of the Palestinian enclave, where there are already more than 8,000 dead, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that It will be a “long and difficult” war.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas declared this Saturday be willing to have a ceasefire with Israel and release the kidnapped hostages in its surprise attack on October 7.
The Israeli operation
“We are moving on to the next phase of the war,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and assured: “Last night, the ground shook in Gaza. We attack above and below ground (…) The instructions to the forces are clear. The campaign will continue until further notice.”.
The minister’s comments give account of the gradual advance of Israel’s offensive, which anticipates a large-scale ground attack, but which has been delayed due to “tactical” issues.
“The war in the Gaza Strip will be long and difficult and we are ready” to fight it, Netanyahu declared at a press conference in Tel Aviv, in which he added that The Army “will destroy the enemy on land and underground”, in reference to the tunnel network by which, according to Israel, Hamas circumvents the blockade of the enclave.
“In the first weeks of the war we launched massive airstrikes that dealt a heavy blow to the enemy. We eliminated many terrorists. However, we are only at the beginning. This is our second war of independence”assured the premier.
At the same time, Netanyahu considered that the expansion of the offensive does not go against one of his country’s objectives, which is to recover the hostages who were taken by Hamas during its attack on October 7, and that today the Army captured in 230, after the release of four women.
Photo: AFP.
“The transition to the second phase of the war does not conflict with the ability to bring back the hostages. I refrain from giving details,” he noted, according to the Haaretz newspaper.
Before the press conference, The president had met with relatives of the kidnapped and promised them that he would “exhaust” all options to achieve their freedom..
Hamas seeks “immediate” hostage exchange
Hamas expressed its willingness to release the hostages it took in its raid, but in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
“We are willing to agree to an immediate prisoner exchange that includes the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails for all prisoners captured by the Palestinian resistance,” said the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Tahya Sinwar.it’s a statement.
“Hamas is ready (for a ceasefire). We ask for a ceasefire and the implementation of the UN General Assembly resolution. Direct negotiations, no. It is an occupying force, we are not willing to maintain contacts directly with them,” declared the member of the political bureau of that radical group Mousa Abu Marzouk.
The Israeli army warned that it considers the entire Gaza City area as a “battlefield” and urged the population to “immediately evacuate” the town to the south of the Strip.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza
The UN warned this week that the bombings against densely populated areas and the blockade of the Gaza Strip constitute war crimes, and questioned that the Israeli Army has asked the Gazan population to leave certain areas while maintaining a tight blockade which prevents not only the entry of supplies into the Palestinian enclave, but also the escape of the population.
Netanyahu defended his military against accusations that they are committing war crimes.
“Those who accuse the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) of war crimes are hypocrites,” he considered, and accused Hamas of war crimes for using civilians as human shields and for keeping fuel that was for hospital use. .
Israel has been building up troops on the border since the October 7 Hamas incursion into southern Israel. Until now, the troops had made brief nighttime ground raids before returning to Israel.
The United Nations warned that a large-scale ground military incursion by Israel could lead to “thousands more civilian deaths” and its Secretary General, António Guterres, harshly criticized this “unprecedented escalation” of bombings and urged an “immediate” ceasefire.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza increased this Saturday to 8,000 people, half of them childrenaccording to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“Bombs were falling from everywhere: from the navy, from artillery and from planes,” Alaa Mahdi, a resident of the Shati refugee camp in the northern part of the Strip, told the AFP news agency.
“Who are they hitting? The resistance? No, poor people,” added the 54-year-old, who affirms that the effect of the bombs in Shati is “worse than that of an earthquake.”
This Saturday, the spokesman for the Gazan civil protection service reported that hundreds of buildings and houses were “completely destroyed” in the early morning Israeli bombardments alone.
How the conflict continues
The Israeli Army said it had hit “150 underground targets” in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The institution claimed to have killed “several Hamas terrorists”, including one of those responsible for organizing the October 7 offensive.
In Israel, according to updated data, the escalation of the conflict It has caused more than 1,400 deathsalmost 5,500 injured and around 230 kidnapped who remain in the power of the Islamist organization Palestinian hostages.
Hamas reported intense clashes between its fighters and Israeli soldierswho raided Beit Hanun, in the north of the Strip, and Al Bureij, in the center.
Photo: AFP.
The Israeli Army confirmed that its forces had operated “inside Gaza”, just as they did the two previous nights. In response, Hamas fired rockets at several cities in Israel.
“We will continue bombing from the air and sea,” said Army spokesman Daniel Hagari. “The elimination (of Hamas leaders) weakens them,” he also said, noting that the Army suffered no casualties during the night operations.
The nighttime bombings coincided with a communications and Internet blackout in the Gaza Strip, where more than 2.4 million people live in overcrowded conditions. The Palestinian Red Crescent and several NGOs and UN agencies said they had lost contact with their teams.
Humanitarian operations and hospital activity “cannot continue without communications,” warned Lynn Hastings, coordinator of the UN humanitarian affairs office.
Furthermore, this situation “also prevents ambulances from reaching the injured,” said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“This information blackout creates the risk of covering up mass atrocities and contributing to impunity for human rights violations,” Human Rights Watch said.
The Palestinian enclave has been subject to an Israeli land, sea and air blockade for 16 years, to which is added, since October 9, a “total siege” by the Jewish State in response to the Hamas attack.
Military spokesman Hagari clarified that the entry of food, medicine and water will be allowed for the Gazan population.
Since October 21, Only 84 trucks of humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza from neighboring Egypt, according to the UN, which estimates that at least a hundred a day would be needed..
Tension is at the same time at its highest in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. More than 100 Palestinians have died there at the hands of Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7.
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