Hamas would no longer control Gaza after the war and the enclave would be run by Palestinian bodies, says Israel’s defence minister.
GAZA: Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday (Jan 4) outlined a new stage of Israel’s war in Gaza: A more targeted approach in the north and further pursuit of Hamas leaders in the south while Israel seeks to free remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Under international pressure to shift to less intense combat operations and in the face of economic challenges, Israel has been drawing down its forces in Gaza to allow thousands of reservists to return to their jobs.
Gallant said in a statement that operations in the north would include raids, demolishing tunnels, air and ground strikes, and special forces operations.
In the south, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population now live in tents and other temporary shelters, the focus would be on wiping out Hamas leaders and rescuing about 130 Israeli hostages remaining of about 240 abducted on Oct 7.
After the war Hamas would no longer control Gaza, Gallant said, adding that the enclave would be run by Palestinian bodies so long as there was no threat to Israel.
Aiming to help prevent the conflict from expanding, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to travel on Thursday to the Middle East for a week of diplomacy, the State Department said.
Earlier on Thursday Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip killed more than 20 Palestinians, including 16 in Khan Younis in a southern coastal area packed with people who had fled from other parts of the enclave, Gaza health officials said.
Among the dead were nine children, they said. Separately five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a car in Al-Nusseirat refugee camp, health officials told Reuters. Gaza residents said Israeli planes and tanks had also bombarded two other refugee camps, prompting many to head south.
Israel’s war against Hamas is nearing the three-month mark amid international concern that the conflict is spreading beyond Gaza, drawing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and Red Sea shipping lanes.
The concern grew after a drone strike on Tuesday killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. He was buried in the Palestinian camp of Shatila in the city on Thursday, amid throngs of mourners launching volleys of gunfire.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Wednesday that his powerful Iran-backed Shi’ite militia “cannot be silent” following the killing, but he made no concrete threats to act against Israel in support of Hamas.
Hezbollah has been embroiled in nearly daily exchanges of shelling with Israel across Lebanon’s southern border since the Gaza war began.
Israel neither confirmed nor denied assassinating Aruri. It has promised to annihilate Hamas following the Islamist group’s assault in southern Israel on Oct 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed.
Israel’s ground and air blitz has laid waste to Gaza. The total recorded Palestinian death toll had reached 22,438 by Thursday – almost 1 per cent of its 2.3 million population, the Gaza health ministry said.
Israel has said it has killed 8,000 fighters in Gaza. Adding to the violence in the region, two explosions on Wednesday killed nearly 100 people during a memorial ceremony for the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani at the cemetery in southeastern Iran where he is buried. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility.
