The Israeli army announced on Sunday, January 7, that it had dismantled Hamas’ military capabilities in northern Gaza. Meanwhile, an Israeli raid in Jenin, occupied West Bank, left at least six people dead and several injured.
Israel said that it had “dismantled” Hamas’ military leadership in northern Gaza as its war against the Palestinian group entered a fourth month on Sunday, with fears mounting that the conflict could spread into neighbouring Lebanon.
The Israeli army said late on Saturday that it had “completed the dismantling of the Hamas military framework in the northern Gaza Strip” and its forces would now focus on central and southern areas of the territory.
In the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, six Palestinians were killed early on Sunday during an Israeli raid in Jenin. .Israeli police said that an officer was killed in action.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would continue its campaign to “eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel.”
Netanyahu was under growing pressure on Saturday with demonstrators gathering in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square to call for early elections and the resignation of his government.
‘Uninhabitable’
AFP correspondents reported Israeli strikes on Saturday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter from the fighting. Witnesses reported that Israel had also carried out air strikes in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis
Victims of the bombardment were brought to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, where relatives and mourners gathered.
One of them, Mohamed Awad, wept over the body of a 12-year-old boy and counted the deaths in his family.
Civilians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have borne the brunt of the conflict, as the scale of the destruction triggered mass displacement and a deepening humanitarian crisis.
With swathes of the territory reduced to rubble, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday, “Gaza has simply become uninhabitable.”
The World Health Organization says that most of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have been put out of action by the fighting, while remaining medical facilities face dire shortages.
International aid group Doctors Without Borders said that it had evacuated its staff from Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza after a bullet penetrated a wall in the intensive care unit.
Diplomatic Push
Top Western diplomats were in the region over the weekend as part of a fresh push to boost the flow of aid into Gaza and address mounting fears of a wider conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan on Sunday during a Middle East tour that will take him to Israel and the occupied West Bank next week.
Blinken was due to hold talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II before heading to Qatar and Abu Dhabi later in the day.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Beirut on Saturday, where he met a senior figure in Hezbollah’s political wing as part of efforts to prevent Lebanon from being drawn into the war, an EU source confirmed.
Borrell said that he would go to Saudi Arabia next to discuss “a joint EU-Arab initiative” for peace.
Malo Pinatel, avec AFP
