Israel’s defense minister warned on Wednesday that his country’s retaliation for Iran’s latest missile attack would be dangerous and surprising, as the Israeli military pressed ahead with a major operation in northern Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah terrorists.
On the diplomatic side, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden held their first phone call in seven weeks, with the White House press secretary saying the call included Israel’s discussions on how it would respond to Iran’s attack.
Click here to contact us on WhatsApp
It was direct, it was productive, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a 30-minute phone call.
Israel’s operation in northern Gaza has left dozens dead and threatened to close three hospitals in a year-long war with Hamas, Palestinian officials and civilians said.
The ongoing cycle of destruction and death in Gaza, exposed by the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, in southern Israel, comes as Israel escalates Hezbollah attacks in Lebanon throughout the week and looks for a major retaliatory strike on Iran following Iran’s missile attack on – October 1. .
Our strike will be deadly, precise and above all, surprise. They will not understand what happened and how. They will see the results, said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant when he spoke to the soldiers. The one who hits us will get hurt and pay the price.
Iran shot down a number of missiles fired at Israel on October 1, which the United States helped to intercept. Biden said he would not support a retaliatory strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah said it fired a rocket attack that killed two people in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The acting mayor of the city, Ofir Yehezkeli, said that the two who died were a couple who were walking their dogs.
Dozens have been killed in Gaza and the survivors are afraid of being deported
In northern Gaza, there was heavy fighting in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp that dates back to the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel, where the Israeli army carried out several major operations during the war and then returned as the army regrouped.
The entire north, including Gaza City, has suffered heavy losses and been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year.
In Gaza, residents of Jabaliya said thousands of people have been trapped in their homes since the operation began on Sunday, as Israeli warplanes and drones buzzed with soldiers battling the militants in the streets.
It’s like hell. We cannot go out, said Mohamed Awda, who lives with his parents and six siblings. He said there were three dead bodies on the road outside his house that were not picked up because of the fighting.
Quadcopters are everywhere, and they shoot anyone. You can’t even open the window, he told The Associated Press by phone, referring to the sound of the explosion.
The Gaza Health Ministry said it found 40 bodies in Jabaliya from Sunday to Tuesday, and another 14 in northern communities. There are probably more bodies under the debris and in inaccessible places, it said.
Residents of Jabaliya fear that Israel intends to demolish the north and turn it into a closed military zone or a Jewish settlement. Israel has closed all roads except the main road leading south from Jabaliya, according to residents.
We are worried about the migration of people to the south, Ahmed Qamar, who lives in Jabaliya with his wife, children and parents, said the message. “The people here clearly said that they will die here in the north of Gaza and will not go to the south of Gaza.
Hospitals are at risk
Fadel Naeem, who is the director of Al-Ahly hospital in Gaza City, said that they received a lot of wounded people and dead bodies from the north. We declared a state of emergency, suspended scheduled surgeries, and released patients in stable conditions,” he told the AP via text message.
Israel’s offensive has wiped out the health sector in Gaza, forcing many hospitals to close and others to slow down.
Naeem said three hospitals in the north – Kamal Adwan, Awda and Indonesian Hospital — have become almost inaccessible due to the fighting. The Gaza Health Ministry says the Israeli army has ordered all three to evacuate staff and patients. Meanwhile, no aid has entered the north since October 1, according to UN data.
The Israeli authority that coordinates humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territories said that Israel has not stopped the entry or coordination of aid entering from its territory to the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel says it only targets terrorists and blames the civilian deaths on Hamas because it is fighting in settlements.
Israel ordered the evacuation of many people from northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in the first weeks of the war, but hundreds of thousands of people are believed to remain there. Israel reiterated those orders over the weekend, telling people to flee south to the aid zone where hundreds of thousands are already crammed into filthy tent camps.
The war began about a year ago, when militants led by Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting about 250 people. They are still holding around 100 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which would not say how many were soldiers. It said women and children made up more than half of the dead. The attacks also caused extensive damage across the region and displaced an estimated 90% of the 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until the complete defeat of Hamas and the return of all hostages.
Israel warns Lebanon that it could end up like Gaza
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that Lebanon will meet the same fate as Gaza if its people do not rise up against Hezbollah.
Video verified by the Associated Press shows what appears to be a group of Israeli soldiers raising an Israeli flag in a village in southern Lebanon.
In the video, which appears to have been recorded in Maroun A-Ras, three soldiers are seen raising a flag over a pile of rubble. An off-camera soldier speaks in Hebrew and refers to the nearby Israeli settlement of Avivim. The date it was taken was not immediately known.
This video follows other similar actions that have occurred throughout Israel’s violence in Gaza. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
An Israeli strike killed four people and injured 10 others at a hotel sheltering the homeless in the southern Lebanese city of Wardaniyeh on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said.
An Associated Press reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms from Israeli planes before the strike. Smoke rose from the building after the explosion.
In recent weeks Israel has conducted a heavy air campaign in large parts of Lebanon, targeting what it says are Hezbollah rocket launchers and other military bases. A series of strikes killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that Hezbollah had fired more than 12,000 rockets, missiles and drones into Israel last year.
(Only the headline and image for this report may have been reused by Business Standard staff; other content is automatically generated from the trade feed.)
Source link