Israel Resumes Offensive on Northern Gaza as Hamas Regroups
Fighting rages in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) returned to the northern area upon seeing that Hamas was rebuilding itself, taking advantage of the power vacuum. The persistent anarchy in the devastated areas and the lack of a future strategy for the enclave generate concern. In an interview with the CBS program Face the Nation, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated that Hamas was already returning to several areas of Gaza and that Israel has not presented Washington with any plan. “credible” both for evacuating and protecting Gazans and for the future of the enclave after the end of the war. Blinken warned that the new operation on Rafah could become an “unsustainable” situation. Now it’s Rafah. And Israel may succeed at first, albeit at potentially incredibly high cost to civilians, but it is not sustainable and will not last,” he warned.
Hand-to-hand combat between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops was repeated this weekend in several areas of northern Gaza. This Sunday, Israel subjected the Gazans of Jabalia, a former Hamas stronghold that already suffered a harsh military offensive in October, to a new siege, with bombings on residential areas and the vicinity of refugee centers, as well as the Ahmed bin Mosque. Hanbal. Israeli drones reportedly opened fire on ambulances in the vicinity of the UNRWA clinic. In mid-afternoon yesterday, several Israeli tanks were advancing towards the town, crossing the Saladin highway that crosses the Strip from north to south, and began to surround the evacuation centers, according to the Qatari channel Al Jazeera.
The Israeli Army also attacked other points in northern Gaza, especially in Beit Lahia, causing a dozen deaths in night attacks and dozens missing in the rubble.
The IDF and the Shin Bet internal secret service eliminated Naeem Ghoul, a member of Hamas’ Shati battalion who was responsible for holding hostage Noa Marciano, a corporal kidnapped on October 7 and murdered at Al Shifa hospital. This Sunday, it was also reported that General Yogev Bar Sheshe was seriously wounded during the resumption of fighting in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City.
The return of Israeli forces to the north comes after Hamas militias managed to regroup shortly after Israel declared the area clear. According to sources from Channel 13 of Israeli television, the Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Army, General Harzi Halevi, acknowledged before the Israeli war cabinet that the return to combat in the north of the Strip “is a task worthy of Sisyphus.” and that “it will have to be repeated again and again without a process to establish an authority and infrastructure in Gaza other than that of Hamas.”
New trips
In fact, Israeli Army sources cited by the Jerusalem Post newspaper anticipate, as a result of this renewed campaign, a new forced displacement of between 100,000 and 150,000 people who returned to northern Gaza in recent weeks. To this, we must add the 300,000 Gazans who have evacuated from Rafah this week following the order issued by Israel, according to UN figures.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned the “new massive displacement for an already traumatized population,” which he described as contrary to international law. Where does [Israel] want them to go? There is no safe place left in Gaza! These are people who are exhausted, who are hungry, and who have run out of options. “The other cities in Gaza, like Khan Yunis, that were supposed to house these people have been reduced to rubble and remain under attack,” he said.
This Sunday, UN agencies were left without food to distribute in southern Gaza due to the difficulties of trucks entering through land crossings. Meanwhile, the death toll exceeded 35,000 this Sunday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.