The Israeli hostages held in Gaza will only be released “under the conditions set by the resistance,” Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas' political bureau, said in a televised address on Tuesday, January 2.
According to Israeli authorities, the Islamist movement kidnapped around 250 people in its Oct. 7 attack in the south of the Jewish state and 129 are still being held in the Palestinian enclave.
Mr. Haniyeh also announced that Hamas, which has solely administered the Gaza Strip since 2007, was open to forming a unified government for all Palestinian territories. “We have received many initiatives on the internal situation and are open to the idea of a national government for the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” he said.
“With every day that passes, the resistance and confidence of victory grow stronger. The enemy is destined to flee. This aggression will end under the blows of resistance and stubbornness of our people. The occupier has no choice but to submit to the will of our people,” Ismaël Haniyeh continued, assuring that “the expulsion plan.” [du peuple palestinien] won't have[it] no place.” Two right-wing extremist Israeli ministers have called for Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip voluntarily. The expulsion of a population from their territory is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, which form the core of international humanitarian law.
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“The fighting will continue and it will always be necessary”
Almost three months after the start of the war, the Israeli army is continuing its offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip, where bomb attacks occurred overnight. Despite urgent calls from the international community for a ceasefire, Daniel Hagari, the army's spokesman, said on Monday that it was preparing for “protracted fighting” that was expected to last “all year long.”
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), witnesses reported rocket fire in the direction of Rafah (south) and bomb attacks around the Jabaliya refugee camp (north) on the night of Monday to Tuesday. Fighting was also reported in the Maghazi and Al-Boureij areas, as well as in the southern capital Khan Younes, which has become the epicenter of Israeli operations.
Other witnesses in northern Gaza told AFP on Monday they saw Israeli forces leaving several areas of Gaza City and its outskirts, suggesting a relocation rather than a permanent withdrawal.
Daniel Hagari explained that the army is “adjusting the planning of troop deployment in Gaza,” including for reserve soldiers, because “the fighting continues and it will always be necessary.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said residents of some towns and villages near the Gaza border, many of whom have been evacuated since the Oct. 7 attacks, will be able to “soon return home.”
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Israeli soldiers are under investigation
The Israeli army also announced on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into one of its soldiers suspected of killing a Palestinian detained in the Gaza Strip. Portrayed by the army as a “suspected terrorist,” this Palestinian was arrested, then interrogated in Gaza before being “placed under the supervision of a soldier suspected of opening fire on him, resulting in his death.” said a statement from the army. “In light of the preliminary information, a military-police investigation has been launched to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting,” it added.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested since the war began on October 7th. On December 24, Hamas called for an international investigation into the “snap executions” it accuses the Israeli army of carrying out in the Gaza Strip, saying it had recorded at least 137 executions since the start of the war.
A few days earlier, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had called on Israel to open an investigation into “the possible commission of a war crime” by its armed forces due to “worrying information” about the deaths of “eleven unarmed Palestinian men” in Gaza City. Israel said the allegations were “baseless and devoid of truth.”
According to the latest report from the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 22,185 people – mostly women, children and teenagers – have been killed by Hamas in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began. That figure includes 207 people killed in the past 24 hours, said the ministry, which reported 57,035 injured. The unprecedented attack on October 7 claimed around 1,140 lives on Israeli soil, most of them civilians, according to the Jewish state.
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