Furthermore, the focus should be on actions based on intelligence findings, Sullivan said in Israel. He did not indicate a time for a change in war strategy. “The conditions and timing for this were, of course, the subject of the discussions I had with Prime Minister (Benjamin, ed.) Netanyahu, the war cabinet, the Israeli military leadership and the defense minister,” said Sullivan . He traveled to Ramallah in the West Bank on Friday.
Biden has previously called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip. “I want them to focus on saving civilian lives,” Biden said. Israel “should not stop” taking action against the Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas, “but it should be more careful.” Taking into account the suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, international criticism of the actions of the Israeli army is growing.
Israel: Command center in Hamas stronghold destroyed
The Israeli army claims to have destroyed the command and control center of an important Hamas battalion in the Gaza Strip. Soldiers also killed terrorists during the operation in the Hamas stronghold of Shejaiya, the military announced on Friday. A tunnel complex was also destroyed. The information could not be independently verified.
Portal/Violeta Santos Moura Sullivan discussed with Netanyahu a possible change in Israel's war strategy
Shejaiya is a district of Gaza City. It is considered one of the last two centers of Islamic Hamas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. A few days ago, Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant announced that the Hamas command center had been surrounded. The Israeli army assumes that Islamic Hamas has a total of 24 battalions, each with around 1,000 members.
The army also announced on Friday that it had also killed several terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis in recent days. Soldiers also found motorcycles in a tunnel that Hamas had used in the October 7 massacre in Israel.
debate
How does October 7th change the Middle East?
“New fighting methods”
According to a spokesman, the Israeli army is now using explosives to kill Hamas terrorists in tunnels under the Gaza Strip. “We have new combat methods that we will use to kill terrorists,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Thursday night. Hamas terrorists and especially their leaders hid in their tunnels. “Terrorists will not be safe underground,” Hagari said.
Below the Gaza Strip there is a whole network of tunnels stretching for many kilometers, in which, according to Israel, several Islamic Hamas terrorists are hiding and also holding Israeli hostages. To be able to resist Israel's aerial bombs, some tunnels extend dozens of meters underground.
According to US media reports, the Israeli army tested flooding the tunnels. Seawater was pumped into some tunnels to find out if the method was suitable for large-scale destruction of the tunnel network. According to the Times of Israel, the tests “appear to have been successful”. However, Hamas claims to have taken this tactic into account from the beginning and designed the tunnels to resist flooding.
Still hostages in the Gaza Strip
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in Israel on October 7th. More than 1,200 people were killed and around 240 hostages were taken to Gaza. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and began a ground offensive in late October. According to Hamas, around 18,000 people have been killed in attacks in the Gaza Strip so far.
According to Israeli information, 135 hostages are currently detained in the isolated coastal area. As part of an agreement between the Israeli government and Hamas, 105 hostages were released. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. The Israeli military said Friday it has recovered the body of a French-Israeli hostage kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7. Elya Toledano's body was brought back to Israel.