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JERUSALEM – Israel said it increased its grip on Hamas strongholds across the Gaza Strip with heavy airstrikes and ground fighting overnight on Sunday, as its forces struggle to deliver a decisive blow to the militant group before international outrage over civilian deaths and a humanitarian collapse is forcing them to ease up on their attacks.
Israeli forces attacked more than 250 locations across the Gaza Strip and fought “fiercely” in Khan Younis, the largest city in the south, and in the northern districts of Shejaiya and Jabalya. According to the World Health Organization, the attacks have forced tens of thousands of displaced civilians into crowded areas near the Egyptian border and pushed Gaza's medical systems into a “catastrophe.”
But IDF officials said Hamas was beginning to give in under the onslaught. Recently leaked videos of captured Gazans described by officials as extradited Hamas fighters have been seen in Israel as evidence that the group's forces are beginning to shed their weapons. However, several Gazans reported seeing family members and children who had no connection to Hamas being held.
Israel is detaining civilians in the Gaza Strip. Many have disappeared, families say.
IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said during a Hanukkah candle lighting for troops that the events were “a sign of the disintegration of the system, a sign that we need to take stronger action.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed directly to Hamas militants to abandon their leaders. “It's over. Don't die for Sinwar. Surrender now,” he said in a video statement, referring to Hamas commander Yehiya Sinwar.
The videos sparked outrage from human rights groups, which said parading undressed prisoners could amount to ill-treatment and that the lineups appeared to include non-combatants.
Israel said it was a standard security procedure to force prisoners to undress to detect hidden weapons and explosives. Troops were rounding up men of fighting age from combat zones and those determined not to be combatants were being released, officials said.
In recent weeks, Israel has detained an unknown number of Gaza civilians without charge. While some are released within hours, others have disappeared, families told The Post.
The IDF said about 7,000 Hamas fighters were killed in its attacks, with the number of Hamas fighters estimated at 40,000. About half of the group's battalion and company commanders are dead, officials said, although Sinwar and other top leaders are still in charge. As ground operations accelerated in the south, Israeli aircraft have dropped seven tons of combat material on troops in Khan Younis in recent days, the IDF said on Monday.
Hamas remained defiant, saying in a social media post on Monday that Israel and the United States should not expect to recover any more hostages alive from Gaza “without exchanges and negotiations” with the group.
Critics have warned that Israel will find it difficult to achieve its stated goal of “eliminating” Hamas as a fighting force because the majority of fighters are reportedly hiding in tunnels and underground chambers. Clearing the network is complicated by the presence of an estimated 137 Israeli hostages and increasing pressure on Israel to call off attacks that have killed nearly 18,000 people According to Gaza health authorities, there are people living in the Gaza Strip, including thousands of children.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated over the weekend one of the increasingly clear warnings from Washington that Israel must do more for civilian security in Gaza. “I think the intent is there, but the results don't always show up,” he said on CNN on Sunday, adding that Israel should also take steps to facilitate the delivery of aid and provide clarity on safe areas during its Armed forces advance south.
The death toll and wave of humanitarian misery, which aid groups say is almost unprecedented and easily preventable, are becoming increasingly likely to eclipse Israel's successes even as it purges Hamas, according to regional leaders.
“This is a war that cannot be won,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said at a conference in Qatar. “Israel has created a level of hatred that will plague this region and shape future generations.”
Military leaders said they needed six to eight more weeks of hard fighting to gain enough control of Gaza to withdraw significant troops from the enclave. The next phase of Israel's war plan – which begins after two months of air strikes and massive ground operations – is expected to focus on maintaining a militarized buffer zone around the enclave and deploying units for more targeted attacks.
In this “corridor” phase, “the IDF is expected to conduct raids of varying intensity deep within the Gaza Strip to reach the remaining Hamas forces and ensure that Hamas does not take control again,” defense analyst Yoav Limor wrote in the on Monday Israel Hayom newspaper.
But this timeline stands in stark contrast to the dire warning from allies and aid groups that the situation for displaced civilians is on the verge of complete collapse.
“The health system is collapsing,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Doha. “I expect that public order will soon completely collapse and an even worse situation could develop, including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement to Egypt.”
Medical care in particular is “on its knees,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Sunday as supplies and hospital beds are rapidly dwindling amid reports of bombings around medical facilities.
In one Social media post On Sunday, Tedros described “active shelling and artillery fire” nearby as the WHO delivered surgical supplies to meet the needs of 1,500 people at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.
“The hospital itself has sustained significant damage and is in urgent need of oxygen and vital medical supplies, water, food and fuel,” he said.
An Israeli human rights group, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said less than 1 percent of the estimated 49,000 injured Palestinians were able to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment in Egypt.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said several health facilities and their staff were attacked across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, and three medical workers were shot dead as they tried to collect medical supplies for hospitals at Gaza's health ministry warehouses .
The European Gaza Hospital was “repeatedly bombed” for the third day in a row, OCHA said, and two medics were injured when an ambulance was shot at near the hospital. The Washington Post could not independently verify the attacks.
Israel and the UN continued to blame each other for the failure of aid to reach civilians.
Israeli officials said they were expanding their system for inspecting trucks from Egypt and were preparing to open a second cargo crossing, Kerem Shalom, for inspections.
“There is no resistance on the Israeli side,” Eyon Levy of Netanyahu’s office told reporters on Monday. “The problem is that international organizations are not keeping up with the delivery of aid at the pace at which Israel can vet it.”
But a UN spokesman said their efforts to increase aid deliveries had been in vain as fighting raged. “Let us emphasize that the greatest challenge lies in the intensity of the bombing in the south,” Juliette Touma of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said in a text to the Post. “Under a sky full of airstrikes and bombings, it is extremely difficult to transport or deliver relief supplies.”
Balousha reported from Amman, Jordan.