2023-12-30 17:10:00
Israel intensifies its attack on the southern Gaza Strip… targeting the “Sanwar”
Clashes intensified between the Israeli army and Palestinian fighters in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, on the 85th day of the war on the Strip, with increasing concern among the army regarding the lack of clear objectives for the fighting in the near future. The Israeli Channel 12 said that the army is concerned regarding the lack of political movement that justifies the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip, or determines the objectives of the fighting in the near future.
Military sources confirmed that the army is disturbed that the political level has not yet determined the goals of continuing the war, and believes that achievements on the ground will erode over time without political action. The complaint came in the midst of the Israeli army expanding its attack in the southern Gaza Strip, which is the second phase of the war following the first phase, which focused on the northern areas of the Strip, during which the army was unable to reach the first-line leaders of “Hamas” and the “Al-Qassam Brigades.”
An Israeli tank near the border with the Gaza Strip (AP)
An overland incursion south
The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it was continuing to fight in Gaza, killing militants, raiding buildings and infrastructure, and waging “fierce battles” in the north, center and south of the Gaza Strip, but it intensified the scope of its ground incursion into the south, raiding Hamas military headquarters in the heart of the city of Khan Yunis and from Among them is the Special Operations Room of the Military Intelligence Service, which is responsible for all intelligence operations in the region. Very valuable documents were found in the targeted sites raided by the fighters.
According to the military spokesman’s statement, “another operations room belonging to the Islamic Jihad Movement was also found in the Hamas compound.” The spokesman said that the army forces raided many infrastructures, killed militants, and destroyed various targets, such as weapons and ammunition production sites.
The announcement of finding “valuable” documents in Khan Yunis came a day following the Israeli army announced that its forces had found an apartment that had been used as a shelter that belonged to the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, in northern Gaza and demolished it, in addition to a large network of tunnels underneath it.
Archives of Yahya Al-Sinwar, head of the Hamas movement in Gaza (AP)
“Approaching the Sinwar”
The Israeli army claims that it has been approaching Sinwar for weeks, but without any real breakthrough, which deprives Israel of the morale-boosting operational victory it has been desperately seeking since the start of the war 3 months ago. The Israeli army said it found important evidence in the apartment that led to the conclusion that Sinwar had used it as a hideout.
The tunnel opening is regarding 20 meters deep, and leads to a tunnel 218 meters long, with several branches, according to the Israeli army. The underground passages contain electricity, air filtration systems, water pipes, rest and prayer rooms, and other equipment intended to allow senior Hamas members to stay for long periods.
Israel was counting on reaching Sinwar in the northern region at the beginning of the ground war, and today it says that it believes he is in Khan Yunis, following he fled the northern Gaza Strip by hiding in a humanitarian convoy that was heading south early in the war. Israel accuses Sinwar of supervising preparations and planning for the October 7 attack, and that he is currently leading discussions on humanitarian truce deals and prisoner exchanges. Israel made plans to kill or arrest Sinwar, including that he may have taken detainees as human shields, and that this might lead to long negotiations.
Israeli soldiers in Gaza (Archyde.com)
Israeli losses
While Israel announced the intensification of its attack in the south, the “Al-Qassam Brigades” said that its fighters were confronting the Israeli forces in all areas of the incursion, and had caused more deaths among its ranks. Al-Qassam said in separate statements on Saturday that its fighters “clashed with Israeli special forces penetrating the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood west of Gaza City, killing and wounding more than 20 soldiers.”
They also clashed with the forces penetrating the Bureij camp and Khan Yunis, and bombed a gathering of occupation vehicles and soldiers in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, with mortar shells. They blew up, with explosive devices, a house in which a number of occupation soldiers were barricaded in Khan Yunis, leaving them dead and wounded. They also targeted an Israeli tank from “Merkava” type with “Al-Yassin 105” missile in the Khuza’a area, east of the city of Khan Yunis.
Al-Qassam announced that it targeted military vehicles, clashed with its members, left them dead and wounded in Sheikh Ajlin in Gaza City, and bombed a gathering of enemy soldiers and vehicles east of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip with a barrage of mortar shells.
A Palestinian carries a child following emerging from under the rubble in a house in the Zawaida area in Gaza (AFP)
14 massacre
The “Jerusalem Brigades” also announced a clash with the army penetrating Khan Yunis, and said that it bombed Israeli army gatherings in the Bani Suhaila area, east of Khan Yunis, with a barrage of regular 60-caliber “mortar” shells. As the ground fighting continued, Israel bombed more areas in the Gaza Strip. In the north, center and south.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said that on the 85th day of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, “the Israeli occupation forces committed 14 massacres once morest families, claiming 165 martyrs and 250 injuries during the past 24 hours.”
According to Al-Qudra, “the number of victims of the Israeli aggression reached 21,672 martyrs, while the number of injured reached 56,165.”
Al-Qudra confirmed that 70 percent of the victims of the Israeli aggression are children and women. Al-Qadar warned of the dangers of famine and drought affecting more than 1.9 million displaced people who lack adequate shelter, water, food, medicine, and safety.
Two Palestinian children in a tent in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip (Archyde.com)
psychiatric disturbances
Al-Qudra said that children and women are exposed to multiple psychological disorders as a result of severe bombing, destruction, body parts, and the loss of their families and homes, including more than 900,000 children in shelter centers who are exposed to the dangers of extreme cold, dehydration, malnutrition, respiratory and skin diseases, and the lack of vaccinations for newborns. There are 50,000 pregnant women who suffer from Malnutrition and health complications, especially for women with dangerous pregnancies, in shelter centers as a result of the lack of drinking water, hygiene, food, and health care. Al-Qudra called on international organizations to conduct urgent interventions to save the lives of children, pregnant women, and chronic patients, and prevent a health, humanitarian, and psychological catastrophe in shelter centers.
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