Israel announces the dismantling of Hamas’ military structure in northern Gaza
Israeli international movements "behind the scenes" aim to address the "genocide" file presented by South Africa
Israel declared that it has “completed the dismantling” of the military leadership structure of Hamas in northern Gaza as its war in Gaza enters its fourth month on Sunday, with regional implications and concerns about its expansion in the area.
Early on Sunday, witnesses reported Israeli airstrikes on Khan Yunis, the large city in southern Gaza, and the new center of clashes between the Israeli army and Hamas. The Palestinian WAFA news agency reported casualties and injuries.
The Israeli army announced on Saturday evening that it is now focusing its operations on central and southern Gaza after three months of the war, allowing it to “dismantle the military structure of Hamas” in the north of this small sector with a population of about 2.4 million.
The spokesperson for the Israeli army, Daniel Hagai, stated, “We have completed the dismantling of Hamas‘ military structure in the northern Gaza Strip,” adding that the movement’s fighters are moving “in an unorganized manner and without leadership.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a Saturday evening statement, “Three months ago, Hamas committed a heinous massacre… My government (the army) ordered a war to eliminate Hamas, bring back our hostages, and ensure that Gaza will not pose a threat to Israel again,” adding, “We must not end the war before achieving these goals.”
Netanyahu recently wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal, outlining three requirements for Israel to achieve peace in Gaza. These include “destroying Hamas, ensuring Gaza is demilitarized, and eradicating extremism from Palestinian society.”
Doctors Without Borders, on Saturday night, announced the evacuation of its staff from a hospital in central Gaza. Carolina Lopez, the emergency services coordinator at Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, stated through the X platform, “The situation has become so dangerous that some of our team members living in the area have not been able to leave their homes due to continuous threats from drones and snipers.”
Six people were killed on Sunday in an Israeli shelling in Jenin, the stronghold of armed Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Speaking about the “killing of six martyrs by the Israeli occupation’s shelling of a gathering of citizens in Jenin.”
The Palestinian news agency “WAFA” reported that Israeli forces raided Jenin on Sunday morning. Local sources quoted saying, “A number of military vehicles entered the city from the Jenin-Nablus street.” Clashes took place in several areas of the city, with the Israeli forces firing smoke bombs in the Jabriyat neighborhood.
The Israeli army deployed snipers on the rooftops of homes and buildings overlooking the camp, while reconnaissance planes and drones flew over the city and the camp during the incursion of army forces. Sources told the agency that “a bulldozer destroyed several streets in the Jabriyat area.”
According to the Israeli army, an officer in the Israeli Border Police was killed, and others were injured when their car hit an explosive device during operations in Jenin. It stated that a helicopter helped rescue the soldiers by firing to cover them, adding that an aircraft fired at a “terrorist group that planted explosives and exposed our forces to danger, killing a number of terrorists.”
The West Bank witnessed a sharp increase in violence since the beginning of the war in Gaza, with an increase in the activities of some settlers aimed at “marginalizing” Palestinians there, according to the “Peace Now” organization.
About three million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank, which is also home to 490,000 Israelis living in settlements recognized by Israel but illegal under international law.
Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, more than 321 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army or settler fire in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Israeli government faces increasing protests, with demonstrators gathering in Habima Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening demanding early elections and the resignation of the government amid the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
Shahaf Nitzar (54 years old) stated, “We are fed up! We are fed up! The government is a bunch of fools. They are leading us to a terrible place. They are leading us to an indescribable future. Bibi Netanyahu and all the other fools are destroying Israel and destroying everything we hoped for and dreamed of.” He added, “We need new elections. We need a new government. We need a new leader.”
The Israeli opposition has called for Netanyahu‘s departure, stating that he does not enjoy the “confidence” of the people to lead a “long” military campaign in Gaza.
Palestinians on Saturday reburied bodies unearthed from their graves in a cemetery in Gaza City, in the area where the Israeli army has been conducting a ground offensive since the end of October, as shown in a video by AFP.
The footage recorded in the Tuffah neighborhood cemetery showed bodies unearthed in their shrouds amid piles of soil. Other partially buried bodies appeared between overturned gravestones in the small cemetery surrounded by buildings, where signs of tank tracks were clearly visible on the ground. Amid the spread of flies, about ten men wearing gloves and masks were busy reburial.
The Israeli offensive destroyed entire neighborhoods in Gaza, leading to the displacement of 1.9 million people, constituting 85 percent of its population according to the United Nations. The inhabitants of the sector live in miserable conditions amid severe shortages of water, food, medicine, and treatment. Many hospitals went out of service due to the subsequent destruction.
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The rejection of the two-state solution by the Israeli ambassador disappoints the British government
Martin Griffiths, the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations, warned that the Palestinian sector has become “simply uninhabitable (…) Gaza has become a place of death and despair, facing daily threats in plain sight of the world.”
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, stated during his visit to Beirut that “Israel has declared its strategic goal of eliminating Hamas. There must be another way to eliminate Hamas that does not lead to the deaths of a large number of innocents,” emphasizing that avoiding a regional conflict is an “absolute necessity.”
Axios published a report revealing Israeli movements “behind the scenes” to address the “genocide” file presented by South Africa.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued instructions to its embassies to exert pressure on diplomats and politicians in the host countries to issue statements against the “South African file,” according to a copy of an urgent telegram obtained by Axios.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs telegram states that the “strategic goal” for Israel is to have the court refuse to issue a judicial order, refrain from determining that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and acknowledge that the Israeli army operates in the sector in accordance with international law.
The telegram, obtained by Axios from three different Israeli officials, stated that the court’s ruling could have significant potential effects not only in the legal world but also in bilateral, multilateral, economic, and security ramifications.
The statement demanded an immediate unequivocal statement “that your country openly and clearly rejects the heinous and baseless accusations against Israel.”
In the telegram, Israeli embassies were instructed to ask diplomats and politicians at the highest levels “to publicly recognize that Israel is working (alongside international actors) to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, as well as to minimize the damage to civilians.”
