Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
24-12-2023
JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: Israeli forces fought Hamas militants on Saturday in northern Gaza, where it is seeking full control so it can focus on the south, a day after the UN Security Council called for more aid for the Palestinian enclave but stopped short of demanding a ceasefire.
Thick smoke hung over the northern town of Jabalia which is also home to Gaza’s largest refugee camp and residents reported persistent aerial bombardment and shelling from Israeli tanks, which they said had moved further into the town.
Hamas’ armed wing Al Qassam Brigades said it was engaged in combat with Israeli forces in the area. It said it had destroyed five Israeli tanks, killing and injuring their crews, after reusing two undetonated missiles launched earlier by Israel. Media could not independently verify the report.
Nearly 20,000 Gazans have been confirmed killed during the 11-week conflict, according to the Palestinian health ministry, with thousands more bodies believed trapped under rubble. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced.
Israel says 140 of its soldiers have been killed since it launched its ground incursion on Oct. 20, in response to an Oct. 7 rampage into Israel by Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants, who killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages back into the enclave.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said on Saturday they had fired decoy shots in the area of Issa in Gaza City that lured dozens of militants from a building that served as a Hamas headquarters in the north of the enclave.
“During the joint operational activity, IDF ground and intelligence troops directed an IAF fighter jet to strike the building, eliminating the terrorists,” it said.
The army also released a video it said showed Hamas tunnels in the Issa area. Reuters could not independently verify the location or the date. Israel accuses the militant group of placing tunnels and other military infrastructure among civilians to use them as human shields, something Hamas denies.
Israel’s chief military spokesperson said on Friday that its forces had achieved almost complete operational control of northern Gaza and were preparing to expand the ground offensive to other areas in the Strip, with a focus on the south.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said at least 18 Palestinians were killed and dozens others wounded in an air strike on a house in Nusseirat, central Gaza, late on Friday.
Health officials and Hamas media said separately that an Israeli air strike on a house in Nusseirat refugee camp killed three people including a journalist of Hamas’ Aqsa TV channel and two relatives.
Latest developments
Israeli tanks are advancing in northern Gaza town of Jabalia, residents say.
Hamas’ armed wing says it has destroyed five Israeli tanks.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander threatens closure of Mediterranean Sea over Gaza crisis, without saying how this could happen.
An Israel-affiliated merchant vessel in the Arabian Sea off India’s west coast was struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle, British maritime security firm Ambrey says. (Int’l News Desk)
