GAZA/JERUSALEM: Israel’s ground forces in the Gaza Strip aimed on Wednesday to locate and disable Hamas militants’ vast tunnel network beneath the enclave, the next phase in an Israeli offensive that has killed thousands of Palestinians.
Since Oct. 7, Israeli bombardment has killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, around 40 percent of them children, according to counts by health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Gaza City, the territory’s largest town and Hamas’ main stronghold, is encircled. Israel says its troops have advanced to the heart of the city while Hamas says its fighters have inflicted heavy losses on the invading forces.
Chief Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israel’s combat engineering corps were using explosive devices to destroy a tunnel network built by Hamas that stretches for hundreds of kilometers (miles) beneath Gaza.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel had “one target — Hamas militants in Gaza, their infrastructure, their commanders, bunkers, communications rooms.”
Israeli tanks have faced heavy resistance from Hamas fighters using the tunnel network to launch ambushes, two sources with Hamas and the separate militant group Islamic Jihad said.
It was not possible to verify the battlefield claims of either side.
Israelis have voiced fear that military operations could further endanger hostages, who are believed to be held in the tunnels. Israel says it won’t agree to a cease-fire until the hostages are released. Hamas says it won’t stop fighting while Gaza is under attack.
“I challenge (Israel) if it has been able, to this moment, to record any military achievement on the ground other than killing civilians,” senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera television.
“Gaza is unbreakable and will remain a thorn in the throat of the Americans and the Zionists,” Hamad said.
While Israel’s military operation is focused on the northern half of Gaza, the south has also come under attack. Palestinian health officials said at least 23 people were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
“This is the bravery of the so-called Israel — they show their might and power against civilians, babies inside, kids inside, and elderly,” said Ahmed Ayesh, who was rescued from the rubble of the house.
’GETTING WORSE DAY AFTER DAY’
Gaza’s already dire living conditions have deteriorated further following a month of relentless bombardment. Nearly two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are internally displaced, according to UN figures, with thousands seeking refuge at hospitals including in makeshift canvas shelters in their car parks.
At Gaza City’s Al Shifa hospital, Um Haitham Hejela, a woman sheltering with young children in an improvised tent fashioned from fabric, said they fled their home because of air strikes.
“The situation is getting worse day after day,” she said. “There is no food, no water. When my son goes to pick up water, he queues for three or four hours in the line. They struck bakeries, we don’t have bread.”
The World Health Organization estimates 122,000 displaced Gazans are sheltering in hospitals, churches and other public buildings across the strip, with a further 827,000 in schools.
International organizations and Western countries have been urgently trying to get aid into the strip and get foreign nationals out.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a humanitarian convoy came under fire in Gaza City on Tuesday.
After rerouting, the convoy delivered medical supplies to Al Shifa hospital. Calling the incident “deeply troubling,” the organization said two trucks were damaged and a driver was lightly wounded. It did not identify the source of the firing.
