Despite renewed appeals for a ceasefire, Israel says it is pressing ahead with ground operations in the Gaza Strip controlled by the Islamist Hamas. “Hundreds of targets of the murderous Hamas terrorist organization” were attacked in “coordinated air and ground attacks,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
According to the UN, almost half of all civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip are under the age of 18. According to the army, Israel was again attacked from Lebanon.
Israel: Terror attack commander killed again
As it advances into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army claims to have once again killed a leading commander of the terrorist attack in southern Israel on October 7th. He did not provide any information about the locations of the troops or reinforcements of the units.
“As we speak, our soldiers are fighting on the battlefield, (…) engaging in fierce hand-to-hand combat, eliminating terrorists,” he said. “The coming weeks will require resilience and patience from all of us,” said army spokesman Hagari. According to media reports, the army is now about three kilometers deep in the Gaza Strip.
300 targets in the Israeli army’s sights
According to the Israeli army, around 300 targets in the Gaza Strip were attacked in two days. Dozens of terrorists were killed.
As the military wing of the Islamist Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, announced, fighters south of the city of Gaza attacked four Israeli army vehicles with anti-tank missiles and explosive devices, among other things. A tank and a bulldozer were attacked with two anti-tank missiles northwest of Gaza, and other vehicles were shot at north of the city. In addition, soldiers on foot were fired at with mortar shells near the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the southeast of the Gaza Strip, it said. The information could not initially be independently verified.
Unicef: 3,450 children killed in Gaza war so far
According to the UN children’s fund Unicef, 3,450 children have been killed in the Gaza war so far. “Gaza has become a graveyard for children,” Unicef spokesman James Elder said during a briefing in Geneva. He did not name a source for the number. Without deliveries of fuel, medicine, water and food, the current figures could soon be “just the tip of an iceberg,” Elder continued.
Fuel is needed, among other things, to operate the clinics’ generators, to treat water and for the emergency vehicles, said a spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO). The UN representatives again called for an immediate ceasefire.
Terrorists from Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, carried out a massacre of civilians in Israel on October 7th. More than 1,400 people died during and in the following days. Since then, Israel has been attacking the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas and free around 230 hostages.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 8,500 civilians in the Gaza Strip were killed and 21,000 were injured in the war. The numbers cannot be independently verified.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” about the escalation of the conflict. This included the expansion of ground operations by the Israeli armed forces as well as intensified air strikes and continued rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the United Nations said in New York. Guterres reiterated calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered access for aid workers to the Gaza Strip.
Israel attacks “terror cell” in Lebanon
The Israeli army says it has once again attacked a “terror cell” in Lebanon. The military said it planned to fire anti-tank missiles into Israel. In addition, anti-tank missiles were fired at two Israeli army positions near the border. The army was responding to the shelling, it was said.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there have been increasing confrontations between the Israeli army and the Shiite militia Hezbollah on the border between Israel and Lebanon. There were already deaths on both sides. Hezbollah has ties to the Islamist Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip.
According to Israel, rockets were also fired again from the Gaza Strip towards the center of the country and the south. Missile alarms were triggered several times, the army said. According to Israeli figures, around 8,000 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel between the start of the war on October 7 and the weekend.
