Israel will not seek to conquer, occupy or govern Gaza after the war against Hamas but a “credible force” will be needed “to enter the Palestinian enclave if necessary to prevent the emergence of military threats”, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interviewed by Fox News. “I think it is clear what the future of Gaza must be like. Hamas will be gone: we must destroy it for the good of all, for the good of civilization and for the good of the Palestinians and the Israelis,” Netanyahu said, reiterating that his government would not agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza: “It would mean surrendering to Hamas, surrendering to terror and the victory of the axis of evil in Iran. There will be no ceasefire without the release of the hostages”, underlined the Israeli Prime Minister.
Six people were killed following an Israeli attack on the Shifa hospital complex in Gaza, according to the hospital’s director general Abu Salmiya quoted by Palestinian media.
Israeli troops raided the Hamas military headquarters near Shifa hospital in Gaza City for the first time. Another testimony to the furious battle being fought in the Strip and the siege with which the army is tightening the Hamas militiamen in the center of the enclave. While the Palestinian Islamic Jihad released a video with two Israeli hostages – an elderly woman and a child – announcing that it wanted to free them for humanitarian reasons.
The army’s grip on Gaza is also demonstrated by the capture of an important Hamas stronghold in Jabalya, in the north of the Strip, after 10 hours of fighting in the refugee camp which caused 30 deaths, according to the toll provided by the Palestinian agency Wafa . In the battle for the Hamas military headquarters – Israel has always maintained that the central command of the Palestinian faction is hidden under the nearby Shifa hospital – the army instead made it known that it had killed “50 terrorists”. In that place, he added, operatives were “prepared for the murderous attack of October 7” and military intelligence documents, tunnel entrances, workshops for the production of anti-tank missiles and launching stations were found. A complex structure where strategic power centers for Hamas are located: from intelligence to defense, but also “the government offices of the terrorist organization, including the Ministry of the Interior”. “The heart – the military spokesperson summarized – of Hamas’ operational activities”.
During operations to control the northern part of the Strip, the army then announced that it had discovered in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, a weapons and drone production and storage site inside a residential building, next to a bedroom children’s bedroom. While the hunt for Hamas leaders continues: today Ibrahim Abu-Maghsib, head of the anti-tank missile unit of the central brigade in Gaza, was killed in a raid.
The video released by Islamic Jihad – after the one published in recent days by Hamas – is the first evidence of the fact that the faction has hostages in its hands. The two clips feature Hanna Katzir, 77 years old, in a wheelchair, and Yagil Yaacov, 13: both kidnapped in the Nir Oz kibbutz on 7 October and dragged to Gaza. There was an appeal for Yaacov just last night in Israel because the boy suffers from a potentially lethal peanut allergy. According to the Times of Israel, the text that the two hostages read places the responsibility for what is happening on Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu: in front of the Prime Minister’s house in Jerusalem, among other things, dozens of people demonstrated in the evening, including family members of hostages, who attempted to enter the house by breaking down the barriers erected by the police. The Israeli media once again did not broadcast the video while military spokesman Hagari urged “not to be ensnared by psychological terrorism”.
Meanwhile today, for the fifth consecutive day, Israel opened a humanitarian corridor along the Salah ad Din road which cuts through the Strip to encourage the exodus of the population from north to south. According to the spokesperson of the American National Security Council, John Kirby, the Jewish State has agreed to double this possibility, opening another corridor along the coastal strip which is firmly in its hands and where, in some videos online, waving Israeli flags. A firm no was reiterated by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to the possibility of a ceasefire without the complete release of the hostages.
If Gaza remains the main front, the West Bank continues to burn. Violent clashes with Israeli troops were recorded in Jenin, Nablus and Qalqilya, with a death toll of 18 (14 in Jenin alone) provided by the Palestinian National Authority. The army said it was an anti-terrorism operation to capture wanted people and “neutralize” an armed cell. While rockets continue to rain on Israel: since the beginning of the war the army has counted over 9,500 of them, of which 900 were launched from civilian sites.
A surface-to-surface missile – later intercepted – was launched from the Red Sea towards the city of Eilat, in what appears to be a new provocation by the Houthis, allies of Iran, from Yemen. The Hamas Ministry of Health announced that the deaths in Gaza have reached 10,812, of which 4,412 minors and 2,918 women.
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