2023-10-31 08:33:04
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli ground forces on Tuesday attacked Hamas insurgents and infrastructure in northern Gaza, where the military says some 800,000 people have fled since the start of the war ago. more than three weeks, while fighter planes continued bombing the besieged enclave from end to end.
Buoyed by the first successful rescue of a captive held by Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire and once more vowed to crush the insurgent group’s ability to rule Gaza or threaten Israel following its bloody raid on October 7, which triggered the war.
The military said one of an estimated 240 people held hostage by Palestinian insurgents during their assault was rescued in a special forces operation, supporting Netanyahu’s argument that the ground campaign will facilitate the release of more captives. instead of putting them in danger.
Private Ori Megidish, 19, was “doing well” and was reunited with his family, the military said.
Hamas has freed four hostages and said it would let more go in exchange for Israel releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners, an offer that was rejected. The insurgent group released a short video on Monday showing three other women being held captive.
More than half of the Strip’s 2.3 million inhabitants have fled their homes and hundreds of thousands are taking refuge in overcrowded schools run by the United Nations, now converted into shelters, or in hospitals with thousands of injured patients. In recent days, Israeli attacks have reached the vicinity of several health centers in the north of the enclave, which has alarmed doctors.
The Israeli ground offensive is focused on the north of the Strip, including Gaza City, which is the “gravitational center of Hamas,” explained Jonathan Conricus, an army spokesman.
“But we will also continue to attack other parts of Gaza. “We are hunting their commanders, we are attacking their infrastructure and wherever there is an important target that is related to Hamas, we will attack,” he assured.
Israeli forces have launched large-scale ground offensives north and east of Gaza City, which before the war had regarding 650,000 residents — a population comparable to that of Washington, D.C.
Videos released by the army showed soldiers walking through an open area, while intense gunshots might be heard in the background, and establishing positions in the ruins of a badly damaged building.
According to Conricus, some 800,000 people have followed the army’s order to evacuate the north of the Strip and go south. But tens of thousands of people remain in and around Gaza City, with the death toll on both sides expected to rise as the battle moves into dense residential neighborhoods.
The army said it hit regarding 300 insurgent targets over the past day and that troops had fought several battles once morest Palestinian insurgents armed with anti-tank missiles and machine guns. Hamas’s military wing said it fired mortar shells at Israeli forces near a closed border crossing with Israel in the southern tip of the territory. It was not possible to independently verify the reports.
Netanyahu said the “achievement” made by Israeli security forces “demonstrates our commitment to freeing all hostages.”
At a news conference Monday night, Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire to facilitate the release of hostages or an end to the war, which he said will be long and difficult. “The calls for a truce are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas,” he said, adding that “that will not happen.”
The president, facing growing outrage from Israelis for failing to foresee the worst surprise attack on the country in half a century, said he does not plan to resign.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen due to the shortage of food, medicine and water due to the almost total siege imposed by Israel.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) says nearly 672,000 Palestinians are taking refuge in its schools and other facilities, which are at four times their capacity. Thousands of people entered his warehouses over the weekend to get food in what he said was an indication of growing civilian discontent.
UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini accused Israel of applying “collective punishment” to the Palestinians and forcing them to move to the south of the Strip, where they are not safe either.
The death toll on the Palestinian side since the start of the war exceeded 8,300 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, an unprecedented figure in the decades of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. More than 1.4 million residents in the enclave have fled their homes.
On the Israeli side, more than 1,400 people have died, mainly civilians who lost their lives during the initial attack by Hamas and which is also an unprecedented number. Palestinian insurgents have continued to fire projectiles into Israeli territory.
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Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt.
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