Israel has said it is entering the “next stage” of its six-week war against Hamas, with the focus shifting to the south of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not say whether he believed senior Hamas leaders were now holed up around the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. “We will get to them,” he told reporters, describing the leadership as “the walking dead.” About 2,500 internally displaced people, along with patients and staff, on Saturday left al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, which has been at the center of an Israeli ground offensive over the past week, a UN agency said.
Israel’s military said it struck both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the northern border in Lebanon early Sunday. Meanwhile, Hamas – designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union – said it had lost contact with the groups tasked with guarding some of the hostages it seized on October 7.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have threatened Israel’s ships. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have said they will attack ships flying the Israeli flag as well as those operated by or belonging to Israeli companies. It is the latest threat from Iran-backed militants in the country, which borders the Red Sea, a key global sea route.
A Houthi spokesman, posting on X, the former Twitter, called on other countries to withdraw their nationals working on Israeli ships and stay away from such ships.
At the same time, Israeli forces are fighting opponents in the north and south of the country. Israel’s air, naval and ground forces engaged enemies on two fronts early Sunday, destroying infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, the military said.
Air raid sirens sounded in southern and northern Israeli cities, and mortars were fired from Lebanon into open areas. Hezbollah said it attacked two Israeli targets, the Iran-backed militant group reported on Al-Manar TV.
The US said there was still no agreement between Israel and Hamas on the release of hostages, after the Washington Post reported that a tentative agreement had been reached to release dozens of women and children held in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting.
“There is no agreement yet, but we continue to work hard to reach one,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in response to the announcement of a US-brokered deal.
Meanwhile, it is understood that around 2,500 people left Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on November 18, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. This happened following an order from the Israeli military, which continued its operations in the compound for the fourth day in a row.
According to the UN agency, on November 18, about 123,000 liters of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt. Israel said it would allow the entry of nearly 70,000 liters of fuel per day, which “is well below the minimum requirements for basic humanitarian operations,” according to OCHA.
Al Shifa Hospital is a “death zone” and “desperate”, according to a UN team allowed to visit Gaza’s largest hospital. The team, led by the World Health Organization, was allowed into the hospital for an hour with the assistance of the Israeli military, the group said in a statement.
Although the team said Al Shifa was “essentially” no longer functioning as a hospital, 291 patients remained there, including 32 babies “in an extremely critical condition”. The “vast majority” of patients suffered from combat wounds, including amputations, burns and spinal injuries, the WHO said.
“WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families” and are seeking a safe route in the coming days to transport the sick to two other hospitals, the group said.
Palestinians said the Israeli military struck a UN school-turned-shelter in the northern Gaza Strip. According to the media service of the Hamas-run government, the shelling killed and wounded 200 Palestinians sheltering in the al-Fahura school.
And Israel said it was entering the “next stage” of its war against Hamas, with attention turning from the rubble of Gaza City to the southern town of Khan Younis. At a press conference, Prime Minister Netanyahu did not say whether he believed senior Hamas leaders were hiding there. “We’ll get to them,” he said. “All Hamas leaders are walking dead,” Netanyahu added.
“The places where Hamas can operate are diminishing,” Defense Minister Yoav Galant said at a press conference at Israel’s military cabinet. “Anyone who has been to the west of the city knows this well – they have already met the deadly force of the Defense Force. Those who are in the east understand this tonight and will understand it even more in the next few days.” .
“And those who are in the southern part of the Gaza Strip will understand this soon,” Gallant was quoted as saying by Bloomberg TV Bulgaria.
In recent days, Israel released leaflets in Khan Younis – the hometown of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar – warning residents to leave the city and head to the safe zone in the southern part of the Strip, where humanitarian aid is available. Since the start of the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have moved into the safe zone, defying Hamas efforts to prevent them from fleeing the fighting zone.
Working on the post:
2023-11-20 20:20:00
#Israel #threatened #leaders #Hamas #walking #dead
