- An Israeli military chief said troops were encountering mines and booby traps set by Hamas, which said Israel’s soldiers would “return in body bags”
Israeli forces on Thursday encircled Gaza City – the Gaza Strip’s main city – in their assault on Hamas, the military said, but the Palestinian militant group resisted their drive with hit-and-run attacks from underground tunnels.
The city in the north of the Gaza Strip has become the focus of attack for Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the Islamist group’s command structure and has told civilians to flee to the south.
“We’re at the height of the battle. We’ve had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. He gave no further details.
Amid heavy explosions in Gaza, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters his country’s “troops completed the encirclement of Gaza City, which is the focal point of the Hamas terror organization.”
Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, chief of Israel’s military engineers, said troops were encountering mines and booby traps.
“Hamas has learned and prepared itself well,” he said.
Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, said in a televised speech on Thursday that Israel’s death toll in Gaza was much higher than the military had announced. “Your soldiers will return in black bags,” he said.
Israel has said it has lost 18 soldiers and killed dozens of militants since ground operations expanded last week.
People check buildings destroyed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday. Source: Getty, NurPhoto / Majdi Fathi
Meanwhile, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Israel on Friday to call for localised pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
With the conflict nearing the end of its fourth week, Blinken was due to visit Israel for the second time in a month to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As Blinken left Washington for the Middle East, he said he would discuss concrete steps to minimise harm to civilians in Gaza. The White House, meanwhile, said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localised, and insisted they would not stop Israel defending itself.
Mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians, along with acute shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, have intensified calls by global leaders for a pause in fighting or a ceasefire.
Israel has dismissed those calls, saying it targets Hamas fighters whom it accuses of intentionally hiding among the population and civilian buildings. The White House has also rejected calls for a ceasefire.
Gaza health authorities say at least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
A group of independent United Nations experts warned Palestinians there are at “grave risk of genocide”.
“We call on Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire. We are running out of time,” the group of UN special rapporteurs said in a statement.
The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva called the rapporteur’s comments “deplorable and deeply concerning” and blamed Hamas for the civilian deaths. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a determination of genocide could only be made by a relevant UN judicial body
Israel says Hamas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages in the attack on 7 October the deadliest day of its 75-year-old history.
The significant escalation is the latest in a long-standing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, gaining power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006.
Hamas’ stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
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