The Gaza war raged on into a fourth month on Sunday as the Israeli army pounded the Palestinian territory with strikes, and US top diplomat Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East seeking to avoid a wider escalation.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has claimed 22,835 lives, predominantly civilians, according to the latest Hamas report. Widespread bombardment has devastated entire neighborhoods, displacing 85% of the population and triggering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, as outlined by the United Nations.
Airstrikes also claimed civilian lives in the southern cities of Khan Yunis and in Rafah where many displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported.
The Israeli army—which claims to have “dismantled” Hamas’s military leadership in northern Gaza—reported the killing of more “terrorists” in central Gaza, including in a drone strike in the Bureij refugee camp.
The leaders of the Islamist Hamas movement declared on Sunday during their daily press conference in Beirut that they will respond to Israel’s assassination of the movement’s leader, Saleh al-Arouri.
Israeli Airstrike Kills Two Journalists in Gaza
Israeli bombardment killed at least 113 people in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry in the besieged territory run by Islamist militant group Hamas, with two journalists among the victims when their car was struck in Rafah.
The journalists killed were working for Al Jazeera and were identified as Mostafa Thuraya, a video stringer who also worked for AFP and other media, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of the Qatari network’s Gaza bureau chief who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike.
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“Hamza was everything to me,” Dahdouh said on Al Jazeera television, adding, “I hope that the blood of my son Hamza is the last blood to flow from journalists and from everyone in the Gaza Strip.”
Tensions in the West Bank
An airstrike, gunfire and explosives across the West Bank killed eight Palestinians and two Israelis on Sunday, officials on both sides said as violence surged in the occupied territory.
Seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the area of the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold in the northern West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israeli police said an officer was killed when her “vehicle … was hit by an explosive device” during a raid on the camp, adding that three other officers were wounded.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli army fire in Abwein village north of Ramallah, said the Palestinian health ministry. There was no immediate comment from the military.
Elsewhere in the Ramallah area, an Israeli civilian was shot dead, according to the army, which said forces were searching for the assailant.
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‘Total Victory’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed again at a cabinet meeting that “I have a clear message for our enemies: What happened on October 7 will not happen again.”
“This is the commitment of my government and this is the reason why our soldiers in the field are giving their lives. We must continue until total victory.”
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According to several American officials who spoke to the Washington Post, a report by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) highlights the risk that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will try by all means to open up a wider front in Lebanon, to ensure his political survival.
Blinken Continues His Regional Tour
The United States’ top diplomat Antony Blinken was in Jordan on Sunday as part of a Middle East tour aiming to ensure that the Israel-Hamas war does not spread.
The King warned Blinken against the war’s “catastrophic repercussions” and the need to end “the tragic humanitarian crisis” there.
The monarch also reiterated “the important role of the United States in bringing pressure for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
Blinken later headed to Qatar, the wealthy Gulf state that was a key mediator leading to a previous week-long Gaza ceasefire and hostage release in late November.
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A source with knowledge of the visit said that “negotiations between the Qataris with Israel and Hamas regarding the release of hostages in Gaza are ongoing, although recent events have naturally impacted the atmosphere surrounding the talks.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the killing of two Al Jazeera journalists in a strike in Gaza was an “unimaginable tragedy.”
He also said Israel must do more to protect civilians in Gaza and that Palestinians displaced by the ongoing war must “return home.”
“Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza,” Blinken told a news conference in Doha alongside Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Warning that the conflict “could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and suffering,” Blinken stated that the United States is working to “prevent the conflict from spreading” in the region.
