© Reuters. An Israeli cell artillery unit fires in the direction of Gaza, amid the continued battle between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, close to the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, February 3, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Bassam Masoud and Dan Williams
DOHA/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinian gunmen saved up assaults towards Israeli forces on Sunday within the Gaza Strip’s two predominant cities, weeks after they had been overrun by troops and tanks, in an indication Hamas nonetheless maintains some management forward of any potential truce.
Almost 4 months into the battle triggered by the Palestinian Islamist group’s lethal cross-border rampage in Israel, there was persistent preventing in Gaza Metropolis within the north of the densely populated enclave, and in Khan Younis to the south.
On the weekly Israeli cupboard assembly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated 17 of Hamas’ 24 fight battalions had been dismantled. The remaining, he stated, had been principally within the southern Gaza Strip – together with Rafah, on the enclave’s Egyptian border.
“We’ll care for them, too,” he stated, in keeping with an announcement from his workplace. Hamas doesn’t publish its losses.
The prospect of a push into Rafah has piled stress on the lots of of 1000’s of Palestinian civilians who’ve fled their properties elsewhere and are sheltering there. It additionally worries Cairo, which has stated it won’t admit any inflow of Palestinian refugees in what it describes a bid to stop any everlasting dispossession.
An Israeli official advised Reuters, nevertheless, that the army would coordinate with Egypt, and search methods of evacuating a lot of the displaced folks northward, forward of any Rafah floor sweep.
Palestinians reported Israeli tank shelling and air strikes there, together with one which killed two women in a home.
As mourners bade farewell to the lifeless kids, a relative, Mohammed Kaloub, stated the air strike hit a room full of girls and kids in Rafah’s al-Salam neighborhood.
“There isn’t any protected place in Gaza, from the wire fence to the wire fence (borders from north to south), there isn’t any protected place,” he advised Reuters.
Palestinian well being officers stated eight folks had been killed in separate Israeli air strikes on Deir Al-Balah areas within the central Gaza Strip. Deir Al-Balah is the second metropolis within the enclave the place Israel has not but deployed tanks.
After conducting partial pullouts from Gaza Metropolis previously few weeks that enabled some residents to return and choose by way of the rubble, Israeli forces have been mounting incursions. Netanyahu described these on Sunday as “mopping-up operations”.
Earlier than daybreak on Sunday, air strikes destroyed a number of multi-storey buildings, together with an Egyptian-funded housing mission, residents stated. The army stated it killed seven Hamas gunmen in northern Gaza and seized weaponry. Israel’s Military Radio stated troops within the space had been attempting to penetrate two Hamas bunkers, a mission it stated may take two weeks amid clashes on the websites.
“Gaza Metropolis is being worn out,” one resident who requested to not be named advised Reuters. “The (Israeli) pull-out was a ruse.”
‘NEUTRALISING’ TUNNELS
In Khan Younis, in a single day Israeli shelling killed three Palestinians, medics stated. Residents reported avenue preventing raging in western and southern areas of the town, the place Israel stated a soldier was killed in a Palestinian assault on Saturday.
Troops in Khan Younis seized a Hamas compound and killed a number of gunmen, the army stated. Netanyahu stated Israeli forces within the metropolis had been “neutralising” Hamas tunnels that run all through Gaza, enabling gunmen to gap up and launch ambushes.
“This calls for extra time but,” he advised his ministers.
Gaza well being authorities, who don’t differentiate between militants and civilians of their tallies, stated on Sunday greater than 27,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed because the battle started. They are saying that 70% of these killed have been girls and kids. Hundreds extra are feared misplaced amid the ruins.
Israel says it has killed some 10,000 gunmen in its marketing campaign to annihilate Hamas after the Oct. 7 assault by the group, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction. Within the rampage, 1,200 folks had been killed and 253 taken hostage, in keeping with Israeli tallies.
Greater than 130 hostages are nonetheless in Gaza, and their doable launch by Hamas is amongst points underneath dialogue in Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated negotiations, which might be backed by the US, to safe a truce.
Hamas has demanded an finish to the battle. Israel guidelines that out however is open to a short lived truce.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted French International Minister Stephane Sejourne in a gathering on Sunday that Sisi’s workplace stated emphasised Egypt’s collaborative efforts to determine a ceasefire and ship humanitarian help to Gaza.