Israeli forces bombed targets in the southern, northern and central Gaza Strip on Monday ahead of an expected announcement by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on the fate of three Israeli hostages shown in a video clip over the weekend.
Twelve Palestinians were killed and others wounded in overnight Israeli airstrikes on a house in northern Gaza City, health officials said, as plumes of smoke rose over the southern main city of Khan Younis shelled by Israeli tanks.
The Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Press Agency SAFA reported heavy fighting between Hamas militants and Israeli forces in Khan Younis, while Israeli tank attacks were also reported near Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza.
In the Al-Nusseirat refugee camp, local journalist Doaa El-Baz shows footage of what used to be the street where she lives.
“This whole neighborhood was destroyed. Not a single house was spared,” he said as he stood in front of the pile of rubble.
Smoke is seen billowing over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on January 15, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
“They killed all our dreams here. The house where I grew up and spent my childhood,” said Baz, his voice trembling.
Communications across the narrow coastal enclave remained cut for the fourth day in a row, residents said.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it had killed two Palestinian fighters in an airstrike on their vehicle while it was transporting weapons in Khan Younis, and also raided a Hamas command center in the city and struck two weapons depots.
Israeli hostage Noa Argamani is seen in a video reportedly released by the terrorist group Hamas on January 14, 2024.
The three hostages were among about 240 seized by Hamas militants during a surprise cross-border attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The Hamas attack, in which Israel said more than 1,200 people were killed, prompted an air and ground offensive by the Israeli military that in the more than 100 days since has turned large parts of Gaza into wasteland and killed, health officials said, about 24,100 people and wounded nearly . 61,000.
Health officials said 132 were killed in the past 24 hours, indicating to Palestinians that there has been little let-up in the intensity of Israel’s attacks despite its announcement of a shift to a new, more targeted phase.
Israeli hostage Itay Svirsky is seen in a video reportedly released by the terrorist group Hamas on January 14, 2024.
Israel’s military said it would focus months of more targeted operations against Hamas leaders and positions in the south after an initial all-out offensive focused on clearing the heavily built-up northern tip of the Peninsula.
Still, nearly two million displaced people are sheltering in tents and other makeshift shelters amid fighting in the south, with the tiny region threatened by famine and disease from chronic shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
OUTLOOK
Hamas released a video on Sunday showing three Israeli hostages being held in Gaza and calling on the Israeli government to stop air and ground attacks and release them.
Israeli hostage Yossi Sharabi is seen in a video reportedly released by the terrorist group Hamas on January 14, 2024.
The 37-second undated video of Noa Argamani, 26, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, ends with the caption: “Tomorrow (Monday) we will tell you about their fate.”
About half of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7 incursion into southern Israel were released during a brief November ceasefire, but Israel said 132 remained in Gaza and 25 had died in custody.
Speaking in Egypt at the weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for the immediate resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks involving “the formulation of a specific timetable and road map for the implementation of the ‘two-state solution'”.
Palestinian militants launch a rocket from the middle of the Gaza Strip towards Israel on January 14, 2024. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
However, there have been no peace talks since the last round collapsed amid irreconcilable demands in 2014, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority that has negotiated with Israel deeply unpopular among Palestinians and its rival Hamas – which has ruled Gaza since 2007 – sworn to the destruction of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly dismissed calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying Israel will press on until it achieves total victory over Hamas and recovers the remaining hostages.
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Wang, who is on a regional tour, said last week that Chinese President Xi Jinping had “deep communication” with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iran. China’s top diplomat has also held talks with the Secretary General of the Arab League and expressed concern over the Red Sea, Xinhua reported.
HUTHIS
With concerns growing about a wider conflict in the Middle East, the US military said on Sunday its warplanes shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from Houthi militant enclaves in Yemen at a US destroyer operating in the Southern Red Sea.
The aerial interception is the latest incident in the Red Sea where the Houthis have attacked international shipping in what they say is a campaign to support Palestinians besieged by Israeli forces in Gaza.
It follows a series of American and British airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen last week that have raised the threat of a “strong” response from Iran-backed militias.
Asked on Monday whether Britain would take part in more airstrikes against the Houthis, British defense minister Grant Schapps said “let’s wait and see what happens… freedom of navigation is an international right that must be protected”.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
