TEL AVIV, Israel — Fourteen Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in Gaza over the weekend, the Israeli military said Sunday, in the bloodiest days of fighting since the ground offensive began and a sign that Hamas is still fighting despite weeks of brutal war.
The mounting death toll among Israeli soldiers is likely a key factor in Israeli support for the war, which erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed communities in southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostages. The war has devastated parts of Gaza, killing some 20,400 Palestinians and displacing nearly 85% of the besieged territory’s 2.3 million residents.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said 166 people had been killed in the coastal enclave over the past day.
The Israeli people still stand behind the country’s stated goal of destroying Hamas’s governing and military capabilities and freeing the remaining 129 prisoners. That support has remained mostly stable despite mounting international pressure on Israel’s attacks and the soaring death toll and unprecedented suffering among Palestinians.
But the mounting death toll – 153 since the ground offensive began – could undermine that support. Soldier deaths are a sensitive topic in Israel, which has compulsory military service for most Jews. The names of fallen soldiers are announced at the top of the hourly newscast.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the “high price” of war. AP
As Christmas Eve falls, smoke still billows over Gaza from fighting while Bethlehem in the West Bank is hushed, its holiday celebrations over.
HAMAS EXACTLY THE PRICE
The 14 Israeli soldiers killed on Friday and Saturday died in central and southern Gaza, a sign of how Hamas is still putting up a fierce resistance even as Israel claims it has dealt a major blow to the militant group.
According to Israel Military Radio, four soldiers were killed when their vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile. Others were killed in separate battles. Another soldier was killed in northern Israel by fire from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which has maintained low-level fighting, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
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“The war exacted a very high price from us but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a Cabinet meeting Sunday.
There is widespread anger at Netanyahu’s government, which has been widely criticized for failing to protect civilians on October 7 and promoting policies that have allowed Hamas to gain strength over the years. Netanyahu has avoided accepting responsibility for military and policy failures.
On Saturday night, thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv, chanting “Bibi, Bibi, we don’t want you anymore,” referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
IN GAZA
Israel’s offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history. More than two-thirds of the 20,000 Palestinians killed were women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday morning that a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed in an Israeli drone strike while inside al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, a part of Gaza where Israeli forces believe Hamas leaders are hiding.
An overnight Israeli attack hit a house in a refugee camp west of the town of Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt. At least two men were killed, according to an Associated Press reporter at the hospital where the bodies were taken.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed. AP
Palestinians reported heavy Israeli shelling and shelling Sunday morning in Jabaliya, an area north of Gaza City claimed by Israel. The Hamas military said its fighters shelled Israeli forces in the Jabaliya and Jabaliya refugee camps.
“The sound of explosions and gunfire never stops,” said Assad Radwan, a fisherman from Jabaliya.
Israel has come under intense international criticism for the civilian death toll but it blames Hamas, citing the militants’ use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has launched thousands of airstrikes since October 7, and has largely avoided commenting on specific strikes.
Israel also faces allegations of mistreatment of Palestinian men and teenage boys detained in homes, shelters, hospitals and other places during the attack. It has denied allegations of abuse and said those with no links to terrorists were immediately released.
Speaking to the AP from a hospital bed in Rafah after his release, Khamis al-Burdainy from Gaza City said Israeli forces detained him after tanks and bulldozers partially destroyed his home. He said the man was handcuffed and blindfolded.
“We don’t sleep. We don’t get food and water,” she said, crying and covering her face.
Another freed prisoner, Mohammed Salem, from the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah, said the Israeli army defeated them. “We have been insulted,” he said. “A female soldier will come and beat an old man, 72 years old.”
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas militants, without providing evidence, and says it has dismantled a vast network of Hamas tunnels and killed top commanders – an operation that leaders say could take months.
Israel’s offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history. AP
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
The United Nations (UN) Security Council has passed a weak resolution calling for immediate humanitarian aid for the starving and desperate Palestinians and the release of all hostages, but not for a ceasefire.
But it was not immediately clear how and when aid deliveries, well below the pre-war daily average of 500, would be accelerated. Trucks enter through two crossings — Rafah on the border with Egypt and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said 93 aid trucks entered Gaza through Rafah on Saturday.
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, reiterated the UN’s call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Smoke billows after Israel’s bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip on Dec. 24. AP Palestinian residents survey the destruction after the Israeli attack in Rafah on Dec. 24. AP
“For aid to reach people in need, hostages to be released, more displacement to be avoided and above all the terrible loss of life to stop the humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza is the only way forward,” he wrote in X.
Israel’s European allies have stepped up calls for an end to the fighting. But the US, Israel’s main ally, appeared to remain firmly behind Israel even as it stepped up its calls for greater protections for civilians.
US President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Saturday, a day after Washington shielded Israel from tougher UN resolutions. Biden said he did not call for a ceasefire, while Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister “made it clear that Israel will continue the war until it achieves all its goals.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
