2023-11-09 07:30:22
Violent fighting in Gaza…and America stresses the need for the Palestinians to rule the Strip
Violent battles broke out in the streets of Gaza City, where Hamas fighters used tunnels to ambush Israeli forces, according to Archyde.com.
At the same time, Washington said that the Palestinians should rule Gaza after the war, after statements by Israel that it would control security in the Strip indefinitely.
The Israeli army said that its forces advanced to the center of Gaza City, the main stronghold of Hamas and the largest city in the coastal strip, while the movement said that its fighters inflicted heavy losses on the Israeli forces.
Yesterday (Wednesday), the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, published a video clip apparently showing fierce battles in the streets amid bombed buildings in Gaza City.
Sources from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement reported that Israeli tanks faced fierce resistance from Hamas fighters who used tunnels to set up ambushes.
Israel is bombarding Gaza in response to an attack launched by Hamas fighters across the border into southern Israel on October 7, during which they killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and took about 240 hostage, according to the Israeli census.
Palestinian officials said that 10,569 people were killed as a result of Israeli bombing as of yesterday (Wednesday), 40 percent of whom were children. Israel says 33 of its soldiers were killed.
Israeli soldiers walk among the rubble amid the ongoing ground invasion in the northern Gaza Strip (Archyde.com)
Palestinian-led rule
As the war between Israel and Hamas entered its second month, Washington began discussing with Israeli and Arab leaders the future of the Gaza Strip without the movement’s rule.
While a plan has not yet emerged, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken outlined Washington’s expectations regarding the besieged coastal region.
Yesterday, Blinken said in a press conference in Tokyo: “There will be no reoccupation of Gaza after the end of the conflict. There is no attempt to restrict or blockade Gaza. “No reduction of Gaza’s territory.”
Blinken added that there may be a need for “some transition period” at the end of the conflict, but governance after the end of the crisis in Gaza must include “a Palestinian-led government and a union of Gaza with the West Bank under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.”
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told > that Israel would assume responsibility for security in Gaza after the war “indefinitely.”
Israeli officials have since tried to make clear that they do not intend to occupy Gaza after the war, but have not yet explained how they can ensure security without maintaining a military presence there. Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza in 2005.
Israeli forces penetrate during a ground operation into the Gaza Strip (AP)
Khalil Al-Hayya, a Hamas leader, told the New York Times that the movement’s attack on Israel was aimed at eliminating the status quo and opening a new chapter in its war with Israel.
The newspaper quoted him as saying yesterday: “We have succeeded in returning the Palestinian issue to the table, and now no one in the region feels calm.”
Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, explained to Al-Aqsa TV yesterday that the movement’s fighters are determined to inflict losses on Israeli forces in the ground battles in Gaza.
He added, “The more the occupation spreads and expands on the ground, the greater its losses.”
Footage from a clip published by Hamas yesterday showed fighters in Gaza running through piles of rubble and stopping to fire rockets from shoulder-fired cannons at Israeli tanks.
Other footage showed them shooting rifles from behind buildings. Archyde.com was unable to verify the authenticity of the footage.
Israel bombs tunnels
Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said yesterday that “Hamas has lost control over the north” of the Gaza Strip.
He added that soldiers from the Corps of Engineers are using explosive devices to destroy the network of tunnels built by Hamas that extends for hundreds of kilometers under the Strip. The army stated that it had destroyed 130 tunnel openings so far.
Israel accuses Hamas of responsibility for the killing of civilians in Gaza, saying that it uses the residents of the Strip as human shields and hides weapons and operations centers in residential areas.
Israeli forces escorted foreign journalists to the outskirts of Gaza City yesterday. Journalists saw widespread devastation, as battles scarred every building in sight, with walls toppled, bullet holes and shrapnel spreading across facades, and palm tree stems broken.
Deputy Commander of the 401st Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Edo, who only gave his first name, said that when the soldiers arrived at these buildings, all the families had left.
“So we know that everyone here is our enemy,” he added, standing in a badly damaged, pink-painted children’s bedroom. We did not see any civilians here, only Hamas.”
Soldiers said during the press tour that under the family’s apartment were two floors of workshops that were used to manufacture weapons, including drones, which they found in 5 wooden boxes. This story could not be verified.
50 thousand Palestinians are heading south
Hagari said that about 50,000 Palestinian civilians left the northern Gaza Strip yesterday within a 4-hour deadline announced by Israel.
The Israeli army repeatedly asked residents to evacuate the north or risk being trapped in a cycle of violence. But the central and southern parts of the Strip were also under fire.
The Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip said that at least 19 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house near a hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
There was no immediate Israeli comment or details regarding the attack, which, if confirmed, would be the third on the largest refugee camp in Gaza within a week.
UN officials and G7 countries intensified their appeals for a humanitarian truce in the war to help civilians in Gaza. They are running out of necessities including food, medicine and fuel.
An informed source said yesterday that there are negotiations mediated by Qatar. Where a number of Hamas political leaders reside, with the aim of releasing 10 to 15 hostages in exchange for a humanitarian truce for a day or two in Gaza.
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