Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated today that the ground incursion into Gaza in the next phase of the war “may last months,” but when it ends “Hamas will no longer exist.”
“The ground offensive must be the last maneuver in Gaza, for the simple reason that after it there will be no more Hamas,” said the minister during a visit to the Israeli Air Force command center in Tel Aviv.
“It will take a month, two or three, but in the end there will be no Hamas,” he stressed on the sixteenth day of war, when Israel has not yet decided to enter the Gaza Strip by land, but is bombing the entire enclave. including civilian infrastructure, as well as Hamas military targets.
These attacks have caused more than 4,600 deaths in Gaza, 70% of them women, children and the elderly, according to Palestinian authorities; and more than 14,200 injured, the largest human catastrophe in the history of the enclave, where 2.3 million people live.
“Before the enemy encounters armor and infantry forces, they will encounter Air Force bombs,” Gallant said.
“I have the impression that you know how to do it in a lethal, precise and very high quality manner, as has been demonstrated so far,” the minister told the air force soldiers.
Clashes between militants and Israel hamper delivery of more aid to Gaza
Armed clashes between Palestinian militiamen and the Israeli Army in the border area between Israel and the southeast of Gaza hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid from Egypt to the strip this Sunday, as EFE was able to verify.
Some 17 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid – food, water and medicine – that were to access the enclave for the second day in a row had to divert their route due to clashes between the Al Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and Israeli troops in the fence area. of separation between Gaza and Israel.
The Hamas militias claimed via Telegram that their members “ambushed an Israeli armored force” in the area of the separation fence between Israel and the southeast of the Strip, in the area of the Khan Younis Governorate.
According to Al Qasam, the Israeli troops “crossed the fence” into the Strip for several meters, before which the Palestinian militiamen “confronted” the soldiers in exchanges of fire that included an attack on an Israeli tank, which forced the troops to withdraw.
For its part, the Israeli Army reported in a statement that Palestinian militiamen shot at soldiers “operating west of the Gaza Strip security fence,” and “a tank attacked the terrorist cell that fired at the military.”
According to the media, Israeli soldiers were injured in the clashes, although there has not yet been official confirmation from the Army.
Witnesses on the Egyptian side of Rafah, including journalists, told EFE that explosions were heard near the border crossing after hearing sounds of fighter jets flying.
The clashes escalated just when almost twenty trucks were entering the Palestinian enclave from the Rafah border crossing with Egypt with medicine, food and drinking water for Gaza, devastated by the total siege imposed by Israel and the incessant bombings, which has led to the Strip to a serious humanitarian crisis.
Yesterday, 20 trucks with supplies entered Gaza after strong pressure from the international community on Israel to allow access for humanitarian aid and an agreement reached with the US.
This access to aid does not include the entry of fuel, which keeps Gaza hospitals without electricity and on edge as they cannot operate the generators.
In total, since the start of the war, more than 4,650 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 14,000 injured, while 70% of the Strip is internally displaced and 50% of homes have been partially or completely destroyed.
266 dead in Gaza due to Israeli bombings in 24 hours
At least 266 people have died in the Israeli bombings on Gaza in about 24 hours, while hospitals remain without electricity due to lack of fuel and in an extreme situation.
According to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Government Press Office, Israel “committed 24 massacres” in just over 24 hours, resulting in 266 deaths, including 117 children, most of whom were in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Stripe.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al Balah, in the center of the Strip, has received 143 dead and more than 262 wounded in a few hours, located in the southern half of the enclave, where Israel has urged the civilian population to move.
Yesterday, the Israeli Army once again asked Gazans to evacuate to the south, dropping leaflets from planes in the northern half of the Strip, where its land invasion is expected to take place, and the points most attacked and with the highest number of Palestinian deaths.
At least 9 Egyptians injured by “mistaken shooting” by Israel
At least nine Egyptians were injured today and a control tower was destroyed by the “error” firing of an Israeli tank against an Egyptian military post on the border with the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security source informed EFE. local media said.
The source said that the “explosion injured nine Egyptians and destroyed the Egyptian watchtower, confirming that ambulances were heading to the scene to transport the injured, in anticipation of more”, information also confirmed by the independent Egyptian media. Mada Masr.
So far, neither the Army nor the Egyptian Government have reacted to this information.
New bombings on Gaza
Gaza has also been targeted in recent hours by Israeli aviation, which has intensified its bombing of the Strip.
According to military sources, two senior officials of the Islamist group Hamas along with other militants were killed in these attacks.
For its part, the Gazan news agency Sanad has stated that since yesterday afternoon at least 114 Palestinians in the Strip have died.
Local sources indicate that among the places attacked by Israel was a cafeteria, and that around eighty people had died in the town of Deir Balah, in the south-central Strip.
In a press conference this Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari once again urged Palestinian civilians remaining in the north of the enclave to evacuate to the south for their safety.
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have already moved there, but hundreds of thousands more have decided not to leave the north of the strip or Gaza City, despite warnings from Israel.
UNRWA workers killed by Israeli bombings in Gaza rise to 29
The number of workers of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) killed by Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip during the war between the Islamist group Hamas and Israel increased to 29, the organization reported today, after counting 13 new deceased.
“We are shocked and in mourning. It has now been confirmed that 29 of our colleagues in Gaza have died since October 7. Half of these colleagues were UNRWA professors,” the agency announced on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
“We are devastated. We are grieving among ourselves and with the families,” UNRWA added.
More than 120,000 Israelis displaced in Gaza and Lebanon
More than 120,000 Israelis have been internally displaced due to the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and due to the intensification of clashes on the border between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this Sunday. Defense of Israel.
Some 16,000 Israelis living in 25 communities located within a radius of up to four kilometers of the Gaza Strip and another 27,000 living in 28 cities within a radius of up to two kilometers from the border with Lebanon have already been evacuated.
The Israeli Defense Ministry’s National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) has also been working to evacuate some 23,000 Israelis from the northern city of Kiryat Shmona in recent days.
Meanwhile, NEMA announced today that it will evacuate another 14 towns on the border with Lebanon, comprising another 11,000 residents.
According to the Defense note, the State will be responsible for these Israelis until the Army allows them to return to what is now a closed military zone near the border with Gaza and a restricted area near Lebanon.
Israel rejects the release of 2 other hostages according to Hamas
The Islamist group Hamas has offered for this Sunday the release of two other captive women, Nurit Yitzhak and Yovheved Lifshitz, “following the same steps as with the two American hostages,” as reported by the group in a statement broadcast on its Telegram channel. .
Abu Obeida, spokesman for the al-Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, assured that he had previously proposed the release of both “for compelling humanitarian reasons and without asking for anything in return,” but as he said, “Israel refused to receive them.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied the accusation and called it “lying propaganda.”
“Israel will continue to do everything necessary to bring home all captives and missing people,” the Israeli prime minister added.
This alleged offer comes as Israel and Hamas enter their sixteenth day of war in Gaza, and after Israeli authorities reported yesterday that Palestinian militias are holding 210 people captive in the Strip.
According to Israel, most of the hostages are alive.
On Friday, Hamas released two American hostages for “humanitarian reasons,” with the mediation of Qatar, which appears to remain involved in indirect contacts between Israel and Hamas.
By Nadeem Faisal Baiga
