Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a Cupboard assembly of Kirya, which incorporates the Israeli Ministry of Protection, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on December 17, 2023.
Menachem Kahane | Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to combat deeper within the Gaza Strip after his forces suffered one of many worst days of casualties of their floor battle, whereas the Islamic Jihad motion joined talks in Cairo in an indication that diplomacy remains to be alive.
The arrival of a delegation headed by the exiled chief of the Islamic Jihad motion, Ziad Nakhlala, to Cairo got here after talks attended by Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in current days. The Islamic Jihad motion, though smaller than Hamas, is holding hostages in Gaza.
Armed teams have to this point mentioned they won’t talk about any hostage launch until Israel ends its battle in Gaza, whereas the Israelis say they’re solely prepared to debate a brief halt to the preventing.
However neither facet has publicly withdrawn from the talks, which Washington final week described as “extraordinarily harmful,” whilst preventing has escalated throughout the Gaza Strip for the reason that collapse of the truce initially of December.
Learn extra concerning the battle between Israel and Hamas:
An Islamic Jihad official mentioned that the Cairo talks will give attention to “methods to finish the Israeli aggression in opposition to our individuals.” The official added that the delegation would reaffirm the group’s place that any hostage alternate should guarantee the discharge of all Palestinians imprisoned in Israel “after a ceasefire is reached.”
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have sworn to destroy Israel, are believed to be holding greater than 100 hostage out of 240 captured throughout their October 7 assault throughout Israeli cities, once they killed 1,200 individuals.
Since then, Israel has blockaded the Gaza Strip and destroyed a lot of it, with greater than 20,400 individuals confirmed useless, in keeping with Gaza authorities, and hundreds extra believed to have died underneath the rubble. The overwhelming majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million individuals have been displaced from their houses, and the United Nations says the situations are catastrophic.
After the collapse of a week-long truce initially of the month, the depth of preventing on the bottom intensified, with the battle spreading from the northern Gaza Strip to your entire Strip.
‘arduous day’
The Israeli military mentioned that 10 of its troopers have been killed final day, after 5 have been killed the day earlier than, its worst losses in two days since early November.
“It is a troublesome morning after a really troublesome day of preventing in Gaza,” Netanyahu mentioned at a cupboard assembly on Sunday. “The battle is costing us very dearly, however we now have no selection (however) to proceed preventing.”
In a subsequent video message, he mentioned that forces would proceed preventing deep into Gaza till “full victory” over Hamas was achieved, including: “We’re doing our greatest to guard the lives of our fighters.”
Israel has come underneath intense strain in current weeks from the USA, its closest ally, to reduce its army marketing campaign and cut back the variety of civilian deaths.
Washington on Friday abstained for the primary time from utilizing its veto energy in opposition to a UN Safety Council decision on the battle, permitting the decision to go after softening language calling for a right away cessation of hostilities.
The Israeli military chief of employees mentioned on Saturday that his forces had largely achieved operational management in northern Gaza and would additional increase their operations within the south.
However residents say that the preventing has intensified within the northern areas not too long ago, particularly Jabalia, which Israeli forces have been bombarding with air strikes throughout the night time and till Sunday. Tanks had entered the city on Saturday.
Within the central a part of the Gaza Strip, medics mentioned that six Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a home within the Bureij refugee camp, because the Israeli military ordered residents to evacuate the place and head west in direction of the town of Deir al-Balah.
Jawdat Imad (55 years outdated), a father of six kids, was pressured to depart an space within the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza after a map revealed by the military recognized it as a spot individuals ought to evacuate.
“I used to be fortunate to get a tent in Rafah,” he informed Reuters by telephone. “From the proprietor of two buildings to the refugee in a tent ready for assist – that is what this brutal battle has turned us into. The world is so sick and inhumane that it can not see Israel’s brutality, and is powerless to cease this battle.” “Destruction and famine.”
In Rafah, on the southern border of the Gaza Strip with Egypt, Palestinian medics mentioned that an Israeli air strike on a home resulted within the deaths of two individuals.
The Palestinian Pink Crescent reported that considered one of its foremost bases within the metropolis of Khan Yunis within the southern Gaza Strip was bombed. She mentioned {that a} 13-year-old little one was killed by Israeli drone bullets whereas he was inside Al-Amal Hospital.
The Israeli military expressed its remorse over the killing of civilians, however blamed Hamas for working in densely populated areas or utilizing civilians as human shields, one thing the motion denies.
The battle has unfold, with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces disrupting international commerce with missile and drone assaults on ships within the Pink Sea in response to the Israeli assault on Gaza.
The US shot down 4 drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen towards a US destroyer within the southern Pink Sea on Saturday, bringing the variety of such assaults on industrial ships to fifteen, US Central Command mentioned.
The US Division of Protection mentioned {that a} drone launched from Iran hit a chemical tanker within the Indian Ocean on Saturday.
