The conflict in Gaza isn’t over despite Israel’s withdrawal of troops
Israeli Operation to End the War on the Balkans: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Says Gaza is a “Front to Self–Definition”
As Israel ends its air-and-ground assault in northern Gaza after weeks of fighting, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is rejecting the idea that it is part of a larger plan to end the military campaign to eliminate Hamas.
A municipal spokesman said that the Israeli troops have left the west of Gaza City and the old central city.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters Tuesday that Israel’s military is in a very high state of readiness.
He said that their forces are continuing to fight in Gaza. We are destroying terrorist infrastructure and eliminating terrorists above and below ground.
An explosion in Lebanon claimed the life of a senior Hamas leader, according to Israel. Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas’ Lebanon-based political bureau, was the senior-most leader of the Islamist militant group killed since the war began.
A majority of the Palestinians who have been killed since October 7 have been women and children. The ministry does not differentiate between combatant deaths and civilians.
Meanwhile, Israel says it will appear before the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in the Hague to defend itself against charges of genocide in Gaza. The case was filed last week, by South Africa, which is asking the court to order Israel to end its military campaign in Gaza.
The focus of Israel’s ground operation has shifted to southern Gaza, including in Khan Younis, where the Israeli military said Thursday that one division and two battalions were eliminating Hamas targets and infrastructure.
“I cannot feel happy while there is an ongoing military operation in other parts of Gaza,” he said. “I want a full cease-fire, an independent Palestinian state, and our right to self determination,” he said.
“The level of destruction is massive in most of the places I went to,” he said. “I don’t understand this level of targeting the infrastructure and houses.”
He said that his home was badly damaged when a neighbor’s house was struck. There were a lot of dead people there.
Gaza City: A Critical Battlefield for Israel’s Invasion Prior to the October 11th Violations of the Second World War
Still, ground fighting and artillery shelling remain active in some parts of the city’s east side, Nabeeh said. The place where three Israeli hostages, including Nabeeh, were shot and killed by an Israeli soldier last month is included.
Dennis Ross told NPR that the north of Gaza had been successfully wrested back from Hamas. Because of that, the Israelis are concentrating more on other areas while decreasing the number of forces in Gaza.
Gaza City was the focus of Israel’s ground invasion before the war. The city was reached by troops in late October.
Some of the most dramatic clashes and strikes of the war so far have taken place there, including the operation at Al-Shifa Hospital and airstrikes that destroyed ancient places of worship such as the Great Omari Mosque and the Church of Saint Porphyrius.
Most of the city’s population fled to the south when the fighting and airstrikes intensified. Much of the city is unrecognizable and uninhabitable. More than 11,000 buildings in Gaza City were damaged or destroyed in 50 days’ worth of strikes, according to an analysis published last month by the UN Satellite Center.
