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GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 8 (Portal) – Israel’s ground forces in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday aimed to locate and disable Hamas militants’ vast tunnel network beneath the enclave. This is the next phase of an Israeli offensive that has killed thousands of Palestinians.
Since Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people and took about 240 hostages in a cross-border raid on October 7, Israel has attacked Gaza from the air and deployed ground troops to split the coastal enclave in two.
Gaza City, Hamas’ main stronghold in the area, is surrounded. Israel says its troops have advanced into the heart of the densely populated city, while Hamas says its fighters have inflicted heavy casualties on the invading forces.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel had “one target – Hamas terrorists in Gaza, their infrastructure, their commanders, bunkers, communication rooms.”
Israel’s top military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Israel’s Combat Engineering Corps used explosives to destroy a Hamas-built tunnel network that stretches hundreds of kilometers (miles) under Gaza.
Israeli tanks encountered stiff resistance from Hamas militants who used the tunnel network to launch ambushes, sources in Hamas and the separate militant group Islamic Jihad said.
It was not possible to verify either side’s battlefield claims.
ISRAEL seeks “indefinite CONTROL.”
Israelis have expressed fears that military operations could further endanger the hostages believed to be held in the tunnels. Israel says it will agree to a ceasefire only after the hostages are released. Hamas says it will not stop fighting as long as Gaza is under attack.
“I challenge (Israel) whether it has been able to achieve any military successes on the ground so far, other than killing civilians,” senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera television.
“Gaza is unbreakable and will remain a thorn in the side of the Americans and the Zionists,” Hamad said.
Health officials in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip say Israeli bombardment has killed more than 10,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, about 40% of them children.
Washington has supported Israel’s position that a ceasefire would help Hamas militarily. But US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he had called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take a break from fighting.
So far, Israel has been vague about its long-term plans if it achieves its stated goal of defeating Hamas. In some of the first direct comments on the issue, Netanyahu said Israel would seek to assume security responsibility for Gaza “indefinitely” after the war.
[1/8]Flares burn in the sky, seen from the Israeli side of the Gaza border in southern Israel, November 7, 2023. Portal/Ammar Awad ACQUIRE LICENSE
However, officials said Israel was not interested in ruling the enclave. Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, said that after the war, neither Israel nor Hamas would rule Gaza.
Saudi Arabia convenes summit
Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab and Islamic nations in the coming days to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the kingdom’s investment minister said on Wednesday.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit, Etemadonline news reported. It was the first visit by an Iranian head of state since Tehran and Riyadh ended years of hostilities under a China-brokered deal in March.
“The aim of holding these … summits and other gatherings under the leadership of Saudi Arabia would be to promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
“NO FOOD, NO WATER”
Hamas’s armed wing said late Tuesday it had fired rockets into Tel Aviv, and rocket sirens blared in the Israeli city and other cities in central Israel.
Israelis in Tel Aviv marked the month since the Hamas attack with a candlelight vigil surrounding photos of the hostages in Habima Square. Some cried, some sang or prayed.
“I came to look at the faces of the hostages and feel part of them. … I want to be by the side of the families whose relatives are in Gaza,” said Valeria Nesterov, 24, a make-up artist.
According to the UN, almost two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are internally displaced. Thousands are seeking refuge in hospitals, including in makeshift tent shelters in their parking lots.
At Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Um Haitham Hejela, a woman sheltering in a makeshift fabric tent with small children, said they had fled their home because of airstrikes.
“The situation is getting worse day by day,” she said. “There is no food, no water. When my son goes to get water, he waits in line for three or four hours. They attacked bakeries, we have no bread.”
International organizations and Western countries have urgently tried to get aid into Gaza and get foreigners out.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a humanitarian convoy came under fire in Gaza City on Tuesday.
After the diversion, the convoy delivered medical supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital. The organization called the incident “deeply disturbing” and said two trucks were damaged and a driver suffered minor injuries. The source of the shot has not been identified.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Maytaal Angel, Emily Rose and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Rami Amichay in Tel Aviv; writing by Rami Ayyub and Michael Perry; Edited by Cynthia Osterman and Simon Cameron-Moore
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