60th Day of War on Gaza Strip: Israel’s Fierce Battle and Hamas’ Response

2023-12-05 21:11:15

The 60th day of the war on the Gaza Strip witnessed the fiercest fighting on all fronts of the incursion into the north, center, and south of the Strip. While Israel announced advances in the Shuja’iya neighborhood, Khan Yunis, and Jabalia, following days of face-to-face fighting, and a day full of losses, the Al-Qassam Brigades affiliated with Hamas said, It inflicted on the Israelis huge losses in combat zones, both human and tank and vehicle losses, and it bombed Tel Aviv and other areas.

Israeli Chief of Staff, General Herzi Halevy, announced that his army is in the heart of the third phase of the operation in the Gaza Strip, encircling the Khan Yunis area in the south of the Strip, and deepening its achievements in the north of the Strip.

Halevy said in a press conference: “We have moved to the third phase of the ground maneuver. We have achieved control over many Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip, and we are now working once morest its centers of gravity in the south, noting that many leaders in Hamas, including some senior leaders, have been liquidated in the last days”.

An Israeli artillery unit on the border with Gaza on Tuesday (Archyde.com)

Halevy stressed, “We are attacking Hamas above and below the ground amid joint air, sea and land campaigns, while introducing ground forces into the region protected by a strong cover of fire and qualitative and accurate intelligence information. Our forces confront many saboteurs and target them effectively and with high professionalism.”

Halevy promised that the army is trying to correct the mistake that occurred on October 7th. He said that the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is the address of the army and that all Hamas leaders are targeted.

Flooding Hamas tunnels

In response to a question regarding reports of flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater, Halevy said that it is a good idea and that they are seriously examining all means to prevent Hamas from using the tunnels, stressing that the battle is long but will continue.

Halevy’s statements came as the Israeli army was deepening its incursion into Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, and succeeded in advancing into the heart of Shuja’iya, east of Gaza City, and into part of Jabalia in the north, following days of fierce fighting on the opposite side, which Israeli media described as “full of losses.”

Israeli soldiers during the ground military operation inside the Gaza Strip (Archyde.com)

The commander of the Israeli army’s Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, said on Tuesday: “Today we are fighting the fiercest battles since the beginning of the ground operation. We are located in the heart of the Jabalia region, in the heart of the Shujaiya region, and in the heart of the Khan Yunis region as well. We are witnessing the most intense days since the start of the ground maneuver, in terms of the number of clashes, ground and air fire, and dead saboteurs, but we are determined to continue.”

He added: “In recent days, army fighters have been operating in the heart of the terrorist strongholds of the Hamas organization in Jabalia and Shuja’iya, and are waging fierce battles once morest their terrorists. Army fighters are also fighting in the Khan Yunis area. The clashes take place face-to-face and we destroy terrorist weapons and infrastructure, above and below ground.”

The Israeli army had deepened into the Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood as the confrontations continued. It had also deepened into Jabalia, encircled its camp, and expanded its incursion into Khan Yunis.

Bursts on Tel Aviv

The progress came following days of intense fighting, which Hamas said had hurt the Israelis greatly. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced, on Tuesday, that they bombed Tel Aviv with a missile barrage, and also bombed Beersheba and targeted enemy concentrations east of Magin. It also targeted the enemy’s command rooms in the southern axis of Gaza City with the 114 mm short-range “Rajum” missile system and the “Kissufim” site.

Israeli police in Tel Aviv stand next to part of a rocket fired from Gaza on Tuesday (Archyde.com)

Israel confirmed that one person was injured by shrapnel that fell in Tel Aviv. Al-Qassam said in a statement issued Tuesday evening, “Since this morning, our mujahideen have engaged in violent clashes with the occupation forces on all fronts of the incursion into the Gaza Strip. We have counted the complete or partial destruction of 24 military vehicles only in the fronts of fighting in the city of Khan Yunis.”

Al-Qassam spoke regarding targeting 18 soldiers in a direct attack, and its snipers killed and wounded 8 soldiers. They blew up a house in which a special force was barricaded with explosive devices. They also placed another force in a minefield prepared in advance. They destroyed military concentrations with a short-range strike system, and directed intense missile barrages at various targets. And in different ways to our occupied lands.

7 officers killed

The Israeli army acknowledged the deaths, and announced 7, including officers, in successive announcements. This number is likely to rise and indicates the ferocity of the battles.

With the announcement of the seven deaths, the number of officers and soldiers killed rises to 84 since the start of the ground operation and to 408 since the October 7 attack.

Despite the fierce confrontations, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant stressed that the war cannot be stopped “until we achieve the goals of this war, which are the return of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas.”

The return of detainees in Gaza was the subject of a heated discussion between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the people on Tuesday and a subject of discussion in the Israeli media.

Israeli media said that Netanyahu informed the families of the detainees in a tense meeting that there was no possibility of returning them all now. According to various media outlets, a quarrel and disagreement broke out at the meeting, and some residents left angry. This is a situation that the Israeli army did not like, which considered talking regarding the situation of the kidnapped people “irresponsible, inaccurate, and should be avoided.”

At the height of the expanded ground battles, Israel continued its violent bombardment of most areas of the Gaza Strip, causing wider destruction in the targeted areas, and killing more Palestinians.

Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila said, “The latest statistics of the Israeli occupation army’s aggression once morest our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for the 60th day in a row recorded the martyrdom of 16,060 citizens.”

She added in a press conference that in addition, there are regarding 40,000 wounded. More than 70 percent of them are women and children (more than 6,000 children and regarding 4,000 women).

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