Israeli forces attack Gaza City on both sides
Israeli troops and tanks have attacked Gaza’s main northern city from both sides, three days after they began a major ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave that has drawn more international calls for civilians to be protected.
An Israeli tank near the Gaza border on Oct. 29, 2023. Photo by IDF Spokesperson
Israel’s military said it had struck more than 600 terrorist targets over the past few days as it expanded ground operations in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian civilians are in dire need of fuel, food and clean water as the war enters its fourth week.
The terrorists said they had repelled an attempted push from Israel tanks into Gaza City from the east and were fighting them on the border with Israel.
“Our duty today is fight and fight,” the Islamic Jihad terrorist group, fighting alongside Hamas, said in a statement, adding that now was not the time for a truce.
The Israeli military said it had killed four prominent Hamas operatives.
“IDF troops killed dozens of terrorists who barricaded themselves in buildings and tunnels, and attempted to attack the troops,” it said.
Israel renewed warnings for civilians to move from the north of the tiny coastal enclave to the south as it began a big push into Gaza late on Friday to go after Hamas terrorists it says are hiding in a labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza City.
Many people have stayed in the city, afraid of becoming homeless like their forefathers and concerned by Israeli bombing further south.
On Monday, residents said Israeli forces carried out dozens of air strikes on the city’s eastern side, with some reporting the roar of tanks rolling in amid exchanges of fire.
A social media post appeared to show one tank on the main Salahudeen road that connects the city to the south.
Later, residents and the Hamas-run government’s media office said the tanks had pulled back towards the fortified fence around Gaza.
The terrorists’ armed wing said intense mortar fire had pushed them back and fellow terrorists Islamic Jihad said its fighters were battling Israeli forces there.
To the west, the coast road was hit several times from the air and sea, residents said.
Palestinian health officials said air strikes had hit near three large hospitals in Gaza City on Monday.
The United Nations humanitarian office OCHA said 117,000 civilians are sheltering alongside patients and doctors in hospitals in the north.
Israel has accused Hamas of placing command centres and weaponry near hospitals, which the group denies.
Air strikes could also be heard in the southern towns of Rafah near Gaza’s only operational border crossing, with Egypt, as well as east of Khan Younis, where Palestinian media said Hamas clashed with Israeli troops.
Phone and internet cuts which blacked out Gaza on Friday had eased and OCHA said on Monday services were “largely restored” although telecoms providers said parts of the north were down.
Israel has said 1400 people were killed when Hamas-led terrorists stormed through the south of the country on October 7 and took 229 hostage.
Hamas has released four so far and said 50 have been killed in retaliatory strikes.
Medical authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, which has a population of 2.3 million people, said on Monday that 8306 people – including 3457 minors – had been killed.
OCHA said rescuers were struggling to reach people.
“As of 29 October, about 1800 people, including at least 940 children, have been reported missing and may be trapped or dead under the rubble, awaiting rescue or recovery,” it said.
The UN agency also said that armed groups continued firing rockets at Israel indiscriminately, with no fatalities reported.
The Israeli government said a German-Israeli woman who was seized by Hamas from a music festival on October 7 and paraded around Gaza is dead.
“I am really sorry to report that we have now received news that Shani Nicole Louk has been confirmed murdered and dead,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Germany’s Bild newspaper.
“What we saw on the Gaza-Israel border goes far beyond a pogrom. We saw a slaughterhouse.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Hamas had to be held accountable for the death of Louk, 23.
“For me, this news is terrible,” Scholz said.
“This shows all the barbarism that lies behind Hamas.”
Reuters
