A weekend of fight in Gaza kills 14 Israeli troopers as public help for the warfare is examined
TEL AVIV, Israel — Fourteen Israeli troopers had been killed in fight in Gaza over the weekend, the Israeli army mentioned Sunday, in among the bloodiest days of battle for the reason that floor offensive started and an indication that Hamas continues to be placing up a struggle regardless of weeks of brutal warfare.
The mounting dying toll amongst Israeli troops — 153 for the reason that floor offensive started — is probably going an necessary think about Israeli help for the warfare, which was sparked when Hamas-led militants stormed communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostages.
The warfare has devastated elements of Gaza, killed roughly 20,400 Palestinians and displaced nearly all the besieged territory’s 2.3 million individuals. The Health Ministry in Gaza mentioned 166 individuals had been killed within the coastal enclave over the previous day.
Israelis nonetheless stand behind the nation’s said objectives of crushing Hamas’ governing and army capabilities and releasing the remaining 129 captives. That help has stayed principally regular regardless of rising worldwide stress towards Israel’s offensive and the hovering dying toll and unprecedented struggling amongst Palestinians.
As Christmas Eve fell, smoke nonetheless rose over Gaza from the combating whereas Bethlehem within the West Bank was hushed, its vacation celebrations known as off.
The 14 Israeli troopers killed on Friday and Saturday died in central and southern Gaza, an indication of how Hamas nonetheless places up robust resistance at the same time as Israel claims to have dealt the militant group a severe blow.
“The war exacts a very heavy price from us but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed a Cabinet assembly.
There has been widespread anger towards Netanyahu’s authorities, which many criticize for failing to guard civilians on Oct. 7 and selling insurance policies that allowed Hamas to achieve power through the years. Netanyahu has prevented accepting accountability for the army and coverage failures.
Efforts towards one other alternate of hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel continued. On Sunday, the top of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group additionally concerned within the Oct. 7 assault, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, arrived in Cairo for talks. The militant group mentioned it was ready to think about releasing hostages solely after an finish to combating. Hamas’ prime chief Ismail Haniyeh traveled to Cairo for talks days earlier.
Egypt and Qatar have been key mediators within the battle.
Israel’s offensive has been one of the crucial devastating army campaigns in current historical past. More than two-thirds of the 20,000 Palestinians killed have been girls and youngsters, based on the Health Ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
The Palestinian Red Crescent mentioned a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed in an Israeli drone assault whereas inside al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, part of Gaza the place Israel‘s military believes Hamas leaders are hiding.
An Israeli strike overnight hit a house in a refugee camp west of the city of Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt. At least two males had been killed, based on Associated Press journalists within the hospital the place the our bodies had been taken.
At least two individuals had been killed and 6 others wounded when a missile struck a constructing within the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
And Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment and gunfire in Jabaliya, an space north of Gaza City that Israel had claimed to regulate. Hamas’ army arm mentioned its fighters shelled Israeli troops in Jabaliya and Jabaliya refugee camp.
“Sounds of explosions and gunfire never stopped,” mentioned Jabaliya resident Assad Radwan.
Israel has come beneath worldwide criticism for the civilian dying toll but it surely blames Hamas, citing the militants’ use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has launched 1000’s of airstrikes since Oct. 7, and has largely kept away from commenting on particular assaults.
Israel additionally faces allegations of mistreating Palestinian males and teenage boys detained in houses, shelters, hospitals and elsewhere in the course of the offensive. It has denied abuse allegations and mentioned these with out hyperlinks to militants are rapidly launched.
Speaking to the AP from a hospital mattress in Rafah after his launch, Khamis al-Burdainy of Gaza City mentioned Israeli forces detained him after tanks and bulldozers partly destroyed his residence. He mentioned males had been handcuffed and blindfolded.
“We didn’t sleep. We didn’t get food and water,” he mentioned, crying and protecting his face.
Another launched detainee, Mohammed Salem, from the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah, mentioned Israeli troops beat them. “We were humiliated,” he mentioned. “A female soldier would come and beat an old man, aged 72 years old.”
Israel says it has killed 1000’s of Hamas militants, with out presenting proof, and says it’s dismantling Hamas‘ vast tunnel network and killing off top commanders – an operation that leaders have said could take months.
The United Nations Security Council has passed a watered-down resolution calling for the speedy delivery of humanitarian aid for hungry and desperate Palestinians and the release of all the hostages, but not for a cease-fire.
But it was not immediately clear how and when deliveries of food, medical supplies and other aid, far below the daily average of 500 before the war, would accelerate. Trucks enter through two crossings – Rafah, and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said 93 aid trucks entered Gaza through Rafah on Saturday.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reiterated U.N. calls for a humanitarian cease-fire, adding on social media that “the decimation of the Gaza health system is a tragedy.”
Israel‘s allies in Europe have stepped up calls for a stop to the fighting. But the U.S., Israel’s prime ally, appeared to stay firmly behind Israel regardless of intensifying its requires better safety for civilians.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Saturday, a day after Washington shielded Israel from a harsher U.N. decision. Biden mentioned he didn’t ask for a cease-fire, whereas Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned the prime minister “made clear that Israel would continue the war until achieving all its goals.”
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Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press author Jack Jeffery in Cairo contributed to this report.
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This model corrects the identify of the refugee camp to Bureij.
