The Israeli Supreme Court decision resulted in a different response in the nation
Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7 attack on the 1948–1948 Israeli-Israeli embassy and a candidate for demilitarization
Israeli air strikes in central Gaza killed at least 35 people on Sunday, hospital officials said, a day after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that the war will last many more months.
The Israeli military said it was battling militants in Khan Younis, where Israel believes Hamas leaders are hiding. It also said its forces operating in the urban Shati refugee camp, in northern Gaza, found a bomb in a kindergarten and defused it. Hamas continued to launch rockets toward southern Israel.
Fears of a broader regional conflagration have been raised by the war. A cargo ship in the Red Sea was shot and killed by Iran-backed rebels, who tried to attack it, according to the US military.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in its war, which was sparked by the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people. Roughly 240 people were taken hostage.
Israel expanded its offensive to central Gaza this week, targeting a belt of dense, built-up communities that house refugees from the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948 and their descendants. The fighting has pushed much of the population south, where people have flooded shelters and tent camps near the border with Egypt, even as Israel has also struck those areas.
The Israeli military said 172 soldiers have been killed during the course of the ground offensive, which began in late October.
It must be in our hands and sealed. It’s clear that any other agreement will not guarantee the demilitarization that we need and require,” Netanyahu said. It is Israel’s position that Hamas has smuggled weapons from Egypt, but Egypt is likely to oppose any Israeli military presence there.
Analysts say Mr. Netanyahu is hesitant to say if the war is over because he wants to keep the government from falling and because he wants to keep his coalition from collapsing.
The U.S. wants a unified Palestinian government to run both Gaza and parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a precursor to eventual statehood. The last Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down over a decade ago, and Israeli government since then have been staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood.
On Saturday night, thousands took part in one of the largest demonstrations against Netanyahu since the war began. The country has remained mostly united since October 7, when it was divided over the long-serving leader and a judicial reform plan.
“It is true that the state of Israel has many enemies and threats, but unfortunately today Prime Minister Netanyahu and his continued rule is the most significant existential threat to our country and our society,” said protester Gal Tzur.
A separate protest Saturday called for the release of the estimated 129 remaining hostages held by Hamas. Families of hostages and their supporters have demanded that the government prioritize hostage releases over other war objectives, and have staged large protests every weekend.
Egypt, one of the mediators between Israel and Hamas, has proposed a multistage plan that would kick off with a swap of hostages for prisoners, accompanied by a temporary cease-fire. In November, a deal saw Hamas freed over 100 hostages, while Israel freed over 250 Palestinian prisoners.
There is a chance that the troop movement is an indication that fighting is being scaled back in some areas of Gaza. The United States wants Israel to switch to lower-intensity fighting.
The secretary of State was going to visit the region before the second approval of an emergency weapons sale to Israel came about.
The Israeli military said that the decision to demobilize soldiers did not mean a compromise in Israel’s desire to fight until Hamas is destroyed. Some troops will be called back to duty in 2024 according to admiral Hagari, who had stated he expected war throughout this year.
Several people died and were injured following a strike late Sunday in the Beach Street in Khan Youns according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. It posted nighttime footage showing medics carrying casualties to ambulances.
A Palestinian from the Nuseirat camp said that it was their usual routine: bombings, massacres and martyrs. He said he heard gunfire in the Maghazi camps as well as sporadic explosions in Nuseirat.
The Israeli military claimed that an airstrike killed a senior Hamas leader in the central city of Deir al-Balah.
Fighting continued overnight on Monday, as Israeli forces sought to advance in central and southern Gaza. Israeli troops were still fighting in one area of northern Gaza, Admiral Hagari said, a region where the Israeli military has said it has eroded Hamas’s control.
The troop changes could be a consequence of the U.S. pressures, according to a retired brigadier general. He said it indicated a shift in how Israel was conducting the war in some areas.
According to the military, as of Monday, 172 soldiers have died in the ground operation, 18 of which were killed by friendly fire.
The End of the War in the West: Israeli Defense of Hamas’s Causes and Implications for the Future of the Middle East
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis who fled their homes due to the Hamas attack had to find a new place to live. The Israeli economy is expected to shrink by 2 percent this quarter, the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, a nonpartisan think tank in Israel, said in late December, as many left the labor force for reserve duty or abandoned businesses in their hometowns.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war, most of them civilians, according to the local health authorities, primarily in Israeli bombing. Half of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are at risk of starving because aid delivery is restricted and aid workers cannot move safely within the territory.
He did not mention the American requests to scale back, and Israeli officials have not declared any shift toward a more limited, targeted phase of the war in Gaza, though they have said such a transition would come.
It’s thought that the troop withdrawal probably signals that a change has begun, though they caution that the war is not over.
“This move is expected to significantly alleviate economic burdens and enable them to gather strength for upcoming activities in the next year,” the military said.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is expected to return to Israel in early January for further talks on the war, according to U.S. officials. President Biden pressed Benjamin Netanyahu to use special forces to attack Hamas and its leaders during a tense conversation last week.
“The withdrawal is a clear signal that the fight is entering a new phase, in line with what the U.S. has been asking for,” said Lt. Gen. Mark C. Schwartz, a retired U.S. Special Operations commander who formerly served as the American security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Going forward, we will see more precision operations against Hamas leadership.
The Israeli military’s gradual transition to that next part of the war reflected the reduction in troop levels, according to a retired brigadier general.
“In substantial parts of northern Gaza, we’re ready to advance to the next stage” of the fighting, General Kuperwasser said. We have control and that allows us to reduce our forces there. To hold on, you need fewer than it took to take over.”
Residents of seven evacuated Israeli towns near the border with Gaza have been told that they can soon return home, and other notifications will soon follow, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said on Monday.
The chaos unfolded at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, according to an English teacher in a crisis-torsion environment
They have sought shelter in hospitals, schools, and makeshift encampments where they have had a hard time finding food and water.
Hanin Abu Tiba, a 27-year-old English teacher sheltering at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, described an atmosphere of desperation at the hospital, which has been flooded with wounded patients and hungry refugees. Whenever aid convoys arrive, a crowd of displaced people descends on the trucks in an attempt to grab food and essential supplies, she said in a phone interview. Gaza police officers largely stand back and watch the chaos unfold, she said.
“People are fighting each other, pushing each other, to get dates that were thrown on the ground,” said Ms. Abu Tiba. Everyone starts running when they hear that something has arrived.
Shortly after midnight — just after Israelis and Palestinians rang in the New Year — Hamas took responsibility for a rocket barrage from Gaza that sent scores fleeing to bomb shelters in central Israel.
