DOHA/JERUSALEM/GAZA:
Israeli forces bombed targets across Gaza on Monday as Hamas prepared to announce the “fate” of three Israelis captured by the Palestinian group three months ago and shown on video over the weekend.
Twelve Palestinians were killed and others wounded in an overnight Israeli airstrike on a house in the northern Gaza City, health officials said, as smoke rose over the main southern town of Khan Younis which was shelled by Israeli tanks.
The Hamas-linked Palestinian SAFA News Agency reported heavy clashes between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces in Khan Younis, while Israeli tank barrages were also reported near the Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza.
Palestinian health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said later Monday that seven people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli rocket attack near the medical center.
In the Al-Nusseirat refugee camp, local journalist Doaa El-Baz showed footage of what was once the street where she lived.
Palestinians search for victims at the site of an Israeli attack on a house in the southern Gaza Strip. PHOTO: Reuters
“This whole neighborhood has been destroyed. Not a single house has been spared,” she said, standing in front of mounds of rubble. “They killed all our dreams here.”
In a statement, the Israeli military said it killed two Palestinian militants in an airstrike on their vehicle as it was transporting weapons to Khan Younis, and also raided a Hamas command center in that city and hit two weapons caches.
Separately, two Palestinians carried out coordinated car drives in the central Israeli city of Ra’anana on Monday, killing one woman and injuring 12 other people, police and medical officials said. The two suspects were from the same family in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and at least one of the vehicles used in the attacks was stolen, police said.
Hamas later linked the incidents to Israeli “crimes”.
“The operation represents a response to the crimes carried out by the occupation (Israel). It is further proof that the conflict with the occupation is expanding,” said Sami Abu Zohri, head of Hamas’ political unit in exile. Reuters.
Homers
Hamas released a video on Sunday showing three Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza and urged the Israeli government to stop the air and ground attack and bring about their release.
The undated 37-second video of Noa Argamani, 26, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, ended with the caption: “Tomorrow (Monday) we will let you know their fate.”
On Monday, maintaining the psychological pressure, Hamas released a video clip featuring the faces of the three hostages and the question, “What do you believe?” The clip then offers three options, in which all three are killed, “some killed, some injured,” or all three escape. The video ends with the message: “Tonight we will let you know their fate.”
The three are among about 240 people taken hostage by Hamas militants during a surprise cross-border rampage in southern Israel on October 7.
Also read: Gaza war rages into 100th day
About half of those hostages were released during a short-lived November truce, but Israel says 132 remain in Gaza and 25 have died in captivity.
The Oct. 7 attack, which Israel says killed more than 1,200 people, sparked an air and ground offensive by Israeli forces that after 100 days has turned much of Gaza into a desert and killed, health officials say, approximately 24,100 people and injured nearly 61,000.
Health officials said 132 had been killed in the past 24 hours, signaling to Palestinians that there had been little abatement in the intensity of Israel’s offensive despite its announcement of a new, more targeted phase.
The Israeli military has said it will now carry out months of more targeted operations against Hamas leaders and positions in the south after an initial all-out offensive focused on clearing the heavily built-up northern edge of the Strip.
Nearly two million displaced people have taken refuge in tents and other temporary accommodation in southern Gaza amid the fighting, and face increased risks of starvation and disease due to chronic shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
Appeal
United Nations agencies renewed their appeal on Monday for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
“We need unimpeded, safe access for aid and a humanitarian ceasefire to prevent further death and suffering,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), adding that the famine would further harm patients and make “an already terrible situation catastrophic”.
A video circulating on social media shows crowds of people running past UN vehicles on a beach in Gaza City hoping to get help. Then people appeared carrying bags of flour. Reuters was able to verify the location shown in the clip but not the shooting date.
Fears are growing of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Vowing solidarity with the people of Gaza, Houthi fighters who control much of Yemen have stepped up attacks on ships in the Red Sea it says are linked to Israel or headed for Israeli ports. Those attacks prompted US and British airstrikes on Houthi targets last week which in turn prompted threats of a “strong” response from the Iranian-backed militia.
The group’s chief negotiator, Mohamed Abdulsalam, said Reuters on Monday that Houthi attacks on shipping will continue until Israel stops its assault on Gaza and humanitarian aid is allowed to flow freely to the Strip.
The United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Monday it had received a report that the port side of a vessel had been hit from above by a missile southeast of the Yemeni port of Aden. He advised ships to pass through the area with caution.
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