Israeli military tanks roll near the Gaza Strip border on December 3, 2023, as fighting continues between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
Menahem Kahana | AFP | Getty Images
Gallant said in a statement that operations in the north would include raids, destruction of tunnels, air and ground strikes and special forces operations.
In the south, where most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents now live in tents and other temporary shelters, the focus would be on eliminating Hamas leaders and rescuing the roughly 130 remaining Israeli hostages from around 240 people kidnapped on October 7 .
After the war, Hamas will no longer control Gaza, Gallant said, adding that the enclave will be administered by Palestinian entities as long as there is no threat to Israel.
To prevent the conflict from spreading, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East on Thursday for a week-long diplomatic trip, the State Department said.
An Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip early Thursday killed more than 20 Palestinians, including 16 in Khan Younis in a southern coastal area that was home to many people who had fled other parts of the enclave, Gaza health officials said.
It was said that nine children were among the dead. Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a car in Al-Nusseirat refugee camp, health officials told Portal. Gaza residents said Israeli planes and tanks also bombed two other refugee camps, prompting many to move south.
Israel's war against Hamas is nearing the three-month mark amid international fears that the conflict is spreading beyond the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Red Sea shipping lanes is affected.
Concern grew after a drone strike killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday. He was buried on Thursday in the Palestinian Shatila camp in the city, amid crowds of mourners who fired shots.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Wednesday that his powerful Iran-backed Shiite militia “cannot remain silent” after the killing, but made no specific threats to act against Israel and support Hamas.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Hezbollah has been involved in almost daily shelling battles with Israel on Lebanon's southern border.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied Arouri's killing. It vowed to destroy Hamas after the Islamist group's Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, which Israel said killed 1,200 people.
Israel's ground and air assault has devastated Gaza. The total Palestinian death toll reached 22,438 as of Thursday – nearly 1% of the 2.3 million population, Gaza's health ministry said.
Israel said it killed 8,000 militants in Gaza.
Adding to the violence in the region, nearly 100 people were killed on Wednesday in two explosions during a memorial ceremony for the late Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at the cemetery in southeastern Iran where he is buried. The militant Sunni Muslim group Islamic State claimed responsibility.
In the attack reported Thursday in Al-Mawasi on the western side of Khan Younis, Israeli shells landed near tents set up by displaced people in the area, health ministry officials said.
Palestinian media footage showed several bodies wrapped in blankets in a hospital morgue in Khan Younis.
“Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Wherever you go, there are strikes. In the countryside, next to the camps, in Al-Mawasi. There is no safe space,” said Bahaa Abu Hatab, the brother of one of the dead.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its headquarters in Khan Younis was hit, killing one person and wounding others.
In its daily briefing, the Israeli military said Israeli warplanes killed three Hamas militants who tried to detonate explosives next to ground troops, and Israeli soldiers killed two others.
The military later said soldiers destroyed an underground military compound on the Gaza Strip coast containing a cache of weapons, including mortars, grenades and RPG rockets.
Israeli bombings have leveled much of the densely populated enclave, causing a humanitarian disaster. Most Gazans have been left homeless and food shortages threaten famine.
On Thursday, people streamed out of the Al-Bureij, Al-Maghazi and Al-Nusseirat refugee camps after attacks, with some families riding on donkey carts loaded with mattresses, luggage and children. The rain has turned the earth into mud and made the misery even worse.
Over the course of the war, the Israeli military has expressed regret over the deaths of civilians but has accused Hamas of operating in densely populated areas and using civilians as human shields, which the group denies.