No lull in fighting between Israel and Hamas heading into 2024. The Israeli army continued its intense shelling of Palestinian areas, killing at least twenty-four people overnight, while Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv and southern Israel Time of the new year.
Tel Aviv is attacked at midnight
Air warning sirens sounded in several parts of Israel, and journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Tel Aviv witnessed missiles being intercepted by Israeli missile defense systems promptly at midnight. People celebrating the New Year on a festive street ran for cover as others continued celebrating.
The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas in power in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the two attacks in a video posted on its social networks, claiming that they had used M90 rockets in “response to the attacks by “The massacre of civilians committed by them” was fired by Israel. The Israeli army confirmed the attack without initially reporting any casualties or damage.
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New Year's celebrations in Israel have been more subdued than usual, even in Tel Aviv, the holiday capital, nearly three months after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli territory that sparked the war, and while many hostages remain trapped in the Gaza Strip.
According to Hamas, there are at least 24 dead in Gaza
Bombings continue unabated in the besieged Gaza Strip and in a desperate humanitarian situation for the Palestinians. The war will continue for “many months,” warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Israeli attacks killed 24 civilians and injured several dozen others on New Year's Eve. Airstrikes targeted the center of Khan Yunis and at least seven other towns in the Gaza Strip, he said. The day before, at least 48 Palestinians were killed in attacks on Gaza City, and another attack on the Al-Aqsa University campus in Gaza left at least twenty people dead, according to the same source.
The Israeli army said it killed more than a dozen enemy fighters in ground fighting, airstrikes and tank fire, adding it had located Hamas tunnels and explosives in a kindergarten.
A war that will last “all of 2024.”
The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will last “throughout 2024,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a New Year's message to troops.
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“The Israeli army must plan because we are asked to do additional tasks and fights throughout the year,” Mr. Hagari announced on Sunday evening.
Tens of thousands of Israeli reservists would be needed to continue the fighting, but some of them would take a break during the war to prepare for “longer fighting,” he added. “Some reservists will return to their families and jobs this week,” Mr. Hagari further assured, which will allow them “to regain strength for the upcoming activities next year.” [2024]”.
The Hamas attack on October 7 killed around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to a count by the AFP news agency based on official Israeli data. In response, Israel vowed to “destroy” the Palestinian movement and relentlessly shelled the Gaza Strip, where 129 of the approximately 250 people kidnapped in Israel on October 7 are still being held hostage. According to a report released on Sunday by the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, 21,822 people, mostly women, teenagers and children, have been killed and injured in the small, overpopulated Palestinian territory since the war began.
International mediation in Cairo
In recent weeks, the Israeli army has been stationed in the north of the Gaza Strip, then towards Khan Younes (south) and recently in the camps in the center of this territory, where 1.9 million residents (85% of the population) have been forced to leave their homes due to the Fights. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the growing threat of the spread of infectious diseases and the United Nations has warned of famine.
International mediators led by Qatar and Egypt are continuing their efforts to bring about a new lull in fighting. A Hamas delegation traveled to Cairo on Friday to convey “the reaction of the Palestinian factions” to an Egyptian plan that called for the release of hostages and a cessation of hostilities. That response will come “in the coming days,” Muhammad Al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of Islamic Jihad, an armed group fighting alongside Hamas, said in a statement.
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