Israel’s air and ground offensive in the Gazan War: Netanyahu’s challenge to demilitarization and the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Israel’s unprecedented air and ground offensive has killed more than 21,800 Palestinians and wounded more than 55,000 others, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. According to the United Nations, 25% of the people in Gaza face hunger due to the war. Israel’s bombardments have levelled vast swaths of the territory, making parts uninhabitable and displacing some 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
The military said that it was fighting in Khan Younias where it believes Hamas leaders are hiding. The bomb in the kindergarten was found by forces operating in the urban Shati refugee camp, which is in northern Gaza. Hamas launched rockets towards southern Israel.
The war has raised fears of a broader regional conflagration. The military said that it shot and killed several Iran-backed Houthi rebels when they attempted to attack a cargo ship in the Red Sea.
Israeli troops struck targets in northern and central Gaza, the Israeli military said on Monday, claiming to eliminate a Hamas militant commander. There was no immediate confirmation by Hamas.
Israel expanded its attack this week to central Gaza, targeting a belt of built up communities that house refugees from the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. The fighting has pushed much of the population south, where people have flooded shelters and tent camps near the border with Egypt, even as Israel has also struck those areas.
There are over 170 Israeli soldiers who have died since the beginning of the ground invasion in late October. The military says that 29 Israeli troops have been killed in accidents.
“(It) must be in our hands, it must be sealed. Netanyahu said that it was clear that any other agreement would not guarantee demilitarization. Israel asserts that Hamas has smuggled weapons from Egypt but Egypt won’t tolerate any Israeli military presence there.
Netanyahu has also said he won’t allow the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority, which administers some parts of the West Bank, to participate in any future rule over Gaza, putting him at odds with President Joe Biden’s administration, which has provided crucial military aid for the offensive.
The U.S. wants a unified Palestinian government to run both Gaza and parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a precursor to eventual statehood. The last Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down over a decade ago, and Israeli government since then have been staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood.
On Saturday night, thousands took part in one of the largest demonstrations against Netanyahu since the war began. Since Oct. 7, the country has been mostly united despite the differing opinions over the long-serving leader and the judicial reforms he started before the war.
“It is true that the state of Israel has many enemies and threats, but unfortunately today Prime Minister Netanyahu and his continued rule is the most significant existential threat to our country and our society,” said protester Gal Tzur.
The Israel-Hamas drawdown is close to the end of the Gaza War, and a Palestinian commander in Deir al-Balah
The sides are far from a new deal. Both Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group say no more hostages will be freed until Israel ends the offensive and withdraws from Gaza.
An Egyptian proposal would see a swap of hostages for prisoners followed by a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. A similar deal in November saw Hamas free over 100 hostages and Israel release 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The military has said that it is close to assuming operational control in the north of the Gaza Strip, so the troop movement might signal that fighting is being scaled back. The United States has been pressuring Israel to begin to switch to lower-intensity fighting.
Word of the drawdown came ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region and after the Biden administration bypassed Congress for the second time this month to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel.
The army did not say how many forces were leaving, or whether the decision meant a new phase of the war.
The Red Crescent transported several dead and injured following a strike on the Beach Street in Khan Younos, according to the Red Crescent. Medics carry casualties to ambulances in night time footage.
“Our routine consists of bombings, massacres and martyrs,” said the Palestinian from their camp. He said he could hear sporadic explosions and gunfire in Nuseirat and in the nearby Bureij and Maghazi camps.
The Israeli military said that an airstrike had killed a Hamas commander in the central city of Deir al-Balah.
The State of the War in Gaza During the First Day of the Second World War II: Israel, Hamas, and the U.S.
Israel said the war will last for a long time. It has argued that it needs time to clear Gaza of militants’ weapons and infrastructure and to prevent Hamas from being able to stage more attacks. Israel has resisted international calls for a long-term cease-fire, saying doing so would amount to a victory for Hamas.
Shlomo Brom, a retired brigadier general once in charge of strategic planning in the Israeli military, said the troop changes may be a result of the U.S. pressure. He said it indicated a shift in the way the war is being conducted.
Over the weekend, the military said that of the soldiers killed since the ground operation began — as of Monday, 172 in total — 18 were killed by friendly fire while another 11 died by weapons or equipment malfunctions or accidents.
Amos Harel, military affairs analyst for Haaretz, said that the military operations in Gaza had slowed down as the campaign in the air had become more limited. The military is trying to put the war on a more sustainable footing, but is making the transition “without announcing it,” he said.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war, most of them civilians, according to the local health authorities, primarily in Israeli bombing. With aid delivery restricted and aid workers unable to move safely within the territory, half of Gaza’s roughly 2.2 million people are at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations.
He didn’t say anything about American requests to scale back, and Israeli officials have not made a shift to a more targeted phase of the war in Gaza.
Mick Mulroy, a former top Middle East policy official at the Pentagon, said that the troop withdrawal “does not mean that the war is close to conclusion,” but that it could mean “a lower intensity phase in the near future.”
“This move is expected to significantly alleviate economic burdens and enable them to gather strength for upcoming activities in the next year,” the military said.
Israel in the midst of the next stage of the war: a representative of the United States, Secretary of State, and a White House official
Mr. Blinken and Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, met for nearly four hours with Ron Dermer, a top Netanyahu adviser, at the White House the day after Christmas. The three discussed pivoting to a different phase of the war to “maximize focus on high-value Hamas targets,” a White House official said.
Lieutenant General Mark C. Schwartz, a retired U.S. special ops commander who formerly served as the American security manager for Israel, said that the pullout is a clear signal that the fight is entering a new phase. There will be more precision strikes and precision operations against Hamas leadership.
The military was gradually transitioning to the next part of the war, even as fierce battles continued in southern Gaza, according to an Israeli brigadier general.
“In substantial parts of northern Gaza, we’re ready to advance to the next stage” of the fighting, General Kuperwasser said. We can decrease our forces there, because we control the area. To hold on, you need fewer than it took to take over.”
Residents of seven evacuated Israeli towns near the border with Gaza have been told that they can soon return home, and other notifications will soon follow, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said on Monday.
They have sought shelter in overcrowded hospitals, schools, and makeshift camps where they can only get food and water on a daily basis.
Hanin Abu Tiba, a 27-year-old English teacher sheltering at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, described an atmosphere of desperation at the hospital, which has been flooded with wounded patients and hungry refugees. Whenever aid convoys arrive, a crowd of displaced people descends on the trucks in an attempt to grab food and essential supplies, she said in a phone interview. She said that most of the police officers in Gaza watch the chaos unfold.
Ms. Abu Tiba said that people fight each other and push each other to get dates. Everyone runs as soon as they hear that something has arrived.
The New Year: A New Hope for Israelis in the Light of a New Year and a Probing of the Israeli-Israeli War
Shortly after midnight — just after Israelis and Palestinians rang in the New Year — Hamas took responsibility for a rocket barrage from Gaza that sent scores fleeing to bomb shelters in central Israel.