Israel kills a “Jihad” official and deepens its operation in central and southern Gaza
Israel assassinated an official in the Islamic Jihad Movement in the northern Gaza Strip, and continued to deepen its ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, at a time when it expanded its operations in the West Bank, in a continuing aggression that the Palestinian presidency said would push matters to an uncontrollable situation.
The Israeli army announced on Thursday that it had assassinated Islamic Jihad leader Mamdouh al-Lulu in the Gaza Strip.
He said in a statement that he, in cooperation with the Israeli General Security Service “Shin Bet,” “liquidated the Chief of the Operational Staff in the northern Gaza Strip and a high-ranking member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, Mamdouh Al-Lulu, who worked as an assistant and close to the leaders of the northern Gaza Strip region for the organization.” (Islamic Jihad) and was in contact with the organization’s leadership abroad.”
According to the army statement, Lulu was assassinated by an Air Force plane.
The announcement of Lulu’s assassination came at a time when the army said that it had killed Hamas militants, including a number of anti-tank missile personnel, in various parts of the Strip, including in Khan Yunis, which is witnessing fierce fighting.
While Israel reduced its forces in the northern Gaza Strip and was working on specific bombing there, clashes intensified in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, and the Nuseirat and al-Maghazi camp in the centre.
The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that they had killed soldiers in ambushes, including detonating a “high explosive” device against an Israeli foot force in a house in Nuseirat, and targeting tanks and vehicles, including two Merkava tanks.
The Israeli army announced the killing of one of its soldiers and the injury of 5 others during the battles in northern and central Gaza, bringing the death toll since the start of the ground operation to 182 and 510 since the start of the war.
Residents of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps were evacuated after the Israeli warning on December 27, 2023 (AP)
As the ground battles continued, on the 90th day of the war on Gaza, Israel bombed homes in Khan Yunis, the Maghazi camp, and the village of Al-Masdar in the central Gaza Strip, and killed more displaced people.
The government media office in Gaza said on Thursday that the Israeli army forced civilians to flee again, then targeted them with bombing and committed massacres against them.
He said in a statement: “The occupation army repeated the crime of forcing civilians, under threat of gunfire and death, to flee from their safe homes and residential neighborhoods to other areas that it claimed were safe, but it bombed them and committed massacres against them.”
He added, “This matter was repeated more than 48 times in the governorates of the Gaza Strip, the last of which was the commission of 6 massacres in the Rafah governorate, south of the Strip, which resulted in 31 martyrs in just three days.”
Israel had systematically forced the Palestinians in Gaza to leave their homes under threat or severe bombardment, and pushed them to the furthest point at the Egyptian border in the city of Rafah, south of the Strip.
The United Nations said that “the number of displaced people who arrived in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip has reached about one million, since the start of the occupation’s aggression on the seventh of last October.”
Members of a displaced family sit next to tents near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, January 2 (AP)
The United Nations added, “Rafah Governorate has now become the main refuge for displaced people, with more than a million people living in a very crowded area, following the intensification of hostilities in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah, and evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army.”
The number of displaced people in the Strip, according to UNRWA, is estimated at about 1.9 million people, or approximately 85 percent of the total population of the Strip, including some who have been displaced several times, as families are forced to move repeatedly in the Strip in search of safety.
Nearly 1.4 million displaced people live in 155 UNRWA facilities in all five governorates.
Effects of the destruction caused by the recent Israeli army attack on Tulkarm and Nour Shams camp in the West Bank (Wafa)
In parallel with this, Israel in the West Bank killed a Palestinian in Tubas, and worked for 40 continuous hours in a major campaign in the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, leaving a lot of destruction that affected schools and streets, as a result of the bombing.
Israel demolished homes, arrested Palestinians, and injured others in Tulkarm, Tubas, Jenin, and other areas in the West Bank, and confiscated a lot of money.
Israeli media said that in general, more than 40 million shekels were confiscated over the past year, and dozens of suspects were arrested by the army in the West Bank, against the backdrop of financing the infrastructure of armed organizations, including Hamas.
Israel launched a large operation in the West Bank since October 7, in parallel with its war on the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian health data, Israel has killed about 22,438 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, and more than 315 in the West Bank.
The official presidential spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said that the Israeli occupation forces are continuing their open aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Bodies of dead Palestinians who fell in Khan Yunis (AFP)
Abu Rudeina added, “The escalation operations carried out by the occupation forces in Gaza and the West Bank will not achieve security and stability, whether in Palestine or in the entire region, especially the colonizers’ attacks on cities, villages and camps with the protection of the occupation forces, which will push matters to an uncontrollable situation.”
The presidential spokesman accused the American administration of encouraging Israel to continue its massacres through continued support and protection.
Abu Rudeina called on the American administration to compel the occupation authorities to stop their aggression targeting innocent civilians. He said that the Palestinian people will remain steadfast on their land, and will not give up their rights, especially Jerusalem.
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2024-01-04 20:49:13
