At least 81 Palestinians have been killed and 198 wounded in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its casualty count.
In Rafah, where doctors said two people were killed in an airstrike, tanks launched an attack into the north of the city before withdrawing. Israeli forces are also using this tactic in other areas before launching larger raids.
At least 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, health authorities say. (AP PHOTO)
The Israeli military said troops were continuing “precise, intelligence-based operational activities in the Rafah area.” It said they had neutralized what it called a terrorist cell and a launcher that had been used to fire at troops.
Airstrikes were carried out on 25 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day and troops remained active in the central area, partly to dismantle structures used to monitor the soldiers.
Nine months into the war, Palestinian fighters led by the Islamist Hamas group can still attack Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar shells, and occasionally even fire rockets into Israel.
Israel’s defense minister said the military had made significant gains and that the pressure was working.
“The operations in Gaza have created the conditions necessary to reach an agreement on the return of hostages,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin.
Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in an attack on October 7, Israeli counts show.
On Tuesday, the army said it had eliminated half of the leadership of Hamas’ military wing since the start of the war and killed or captured some 14,000 fighters, about half of the Israeli military’s estimated force.
At least 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive since then, Gaza health authorities say. Israel says 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza.
A floating pier set up to deliver humanitarian aid was operational for only 20 days due to weather conditions. (AP PHOTO)
The U.S. military said Wednesday it was ending its mission to operate a temporary floating pier to bring humanitarian aid by ship to famine-stricken Gaza, with the effort now shifting to Israel’s Ashdod port.
The pier helped deliver £20 million of aid to Gaza, but was only in use for 20 days due to weather conditions.
Diplomatic efforts by Arab mediators to end hostilities, with US support, appear to be on hold, although all sides, including Israel and Hamas, say they are open to further talks.
Foreign leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have insisted that an end to the fighting in Gaza must lead to a post-war plan with a clear timetable for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and right-wing parties oppose this two-state solution.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Wednesday adopted a statement by a vote of 68-9 opposing the creation of a Palestinian state, saying it would pose an existential threat to Israel and perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Also on Wednesday, Israel released 13 Palestinians detained during the offensive in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, which has repeatedly accused the Israeli military of war crimes during the Gaza campaign, published a 252-page report on the October 7 attack.
The organization accused Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and at least four other Palestinian armed groups of committing “numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity” during the attack.
These included “deliberate and indiscriminate attacks” against civilians, inhuman treatment and intentional killing of prisoners, sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation of bodies, use of human shields and looting.
Hamas rejected the report as containing “lies and blatant bias” and demanded that Human Rights Watch retract the report and apologize.
