The Israeli military signaled that it has wrapped up major combat in northern Gaza, saying it has completed dismantling Hamas鈥� military infrastructure there, as against the militant group entered its fourth month Sunday.
Israel did not address troop deployments in northern Gaza going forward. Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said late Saturday that forces would focus on the central and southern parts of the territory and strengthen defenses along the Israel-Gaza border fence.
The announcement came ahead of a , who on Sunday was in Qatar, a key mediator. Biden administration officials have urged Israel to wind down its blistering air and ground offensive in Gaza and shift to more targeted attacks against Hamas leaders.
In recent weeks, Israel has scaled back in northern Gaza and pressed its offensive in the south, where most of Gaza鈥檚 2.3 million Palestinians are in a while being pounded by Israeli airstrikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the war will not end until the objectives of eliminating Hamas, getting Israel鈥檚 hostages returned and ensuring that Gaza won鈥檛 be a threat to Israel are met.
The war was triggered by Hamas鈥� on southern Israel in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people hostage.
Israel鈥檚 retaliation has killed more than 22,800 Palestinians and wounded more than 58,000, according to the The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Health officials say about two-thirds of those killed have been women and minors. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in heavily populated residential areas.
An airstrike near the southern city of Rafah on Sunday, including Hamza Dahdouh, the oldest son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera鈥檚 chief correspondent in Gaza, the Arabic channel and local medical officials said. Al Jazeera broadcast footage of Dahdouh, weeping and holding his son鈥檚 hand, before walking away in a daze. Israel鈥檚 military had no immediate comment.
Al Jazeera strongly condemned the killings and other 鈥渂rutal attacks against journalists and their families鈥� by Israeli forces, and urged the International Criminal Court, governments and human rights groups to hold Israel accountable.
Dahdouh previously in an Oct. 26 airstrike, and was wounded in an Israeli strike last month that .
鈥淭he world is blind to what鈥檚 happening in Gaza Strip,鈥� Dahdouh said, blinking back tears.
Another airstrike hit a house between Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, killing at least seven people whose bodies were taken to the nearby European Hospital, according to an Associated Press journalist at the facility. One man hurried in carrying a baby, and later walked the blanket-wrapped child to the morgue.
鈥淓verything happening here is outside the realms of law, outside the realms of reason. Our brains can鈥檛 fully comprehend all this that is happening to us,鈥� said a grieving relative, Inas Abu al-Najja, her wavering voice rising. Men worked the rubble with picks and bare hands.
On Sunday, officials at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies of 18 people, including 12 children, killed in an Israeli strike late Saturday. More than 50 people were injured in the strike on a home in the Khan Younis refugee camp, set up decades ago to house refugees from the 1948 war over Israel鈥檚 creation.
Israeli forces pushed deeper into the central city of Deir al-Balah, where residents in several neighborhoods were warned that they must evacuate.
The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by the acronym MSF, said it was evacuating its medical staff from Deir al-Balah鈥檚 Al Aqsa Martyrs鈥� Hospital.
A bullet penetrated a wall of the hospital鈥檚 intensive care unit on Friday, and 鈥渄rone attacks and sniper fire were just a few hundred meters from the hospital鈥� over the past couple of days, said Carolina Lopez, the group鈥檚 emergency coordinator there. She said the hospital received between 150 and 200 injured people daily in recent weeks.
The head of the hospital, hosting a U.N. delegation, warned that 鈥渢oday, we are on the verge of a true catastrophe.鈥� Without health care, residents 鈥渨ill be left in the streets to meet their death,鈥� Dr. Iyad Abu Zaher said. The U.N. urged the protection of health workers across Gaza.
Hagari, the military spokesman, said scattered fighting in northern Gaza was to be expected, along with rockets sporadically being launched from there toward Israel. He said Hamas militants 鈥渨ithout a framework and without commanders鈥� were still present. The military has said it has killed more than 8,000 Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence.
Hagari said Israeli forces would act differently in the south than in northern Gaza, where heavy bombardment and ground combat
He said urban refugee camps targeted by the military are packed with gunmen and that 鈥渁n underground city of sprawling tunnels鈥� was discovered underneath Khan Younis. Echoing Israeli political leaders, he said fighting will continue throughout 2024.
In addition to U.S. appeals for scaling back high-intensity combat, Blinken on his fourth Mideast trip in three months is calling for more aid to reach Gaza and urging Israel鈥檚 leaders to come up with a post-war vision for the besieged territory.
Two U.S. senators who inspected aid deliveries over the weekend largely due to Israeli inspections of cargo trucks, with seemingly arbitrary rejections of vital humanitarian equipment.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration and Netanyahu remain far apart on who should run the territory after the war, with the Israeli leader rejecting the Washington-floated idea of having a reformed Palestinian Authority, an autonomy government in parts of the occupied West Bank, eventually administer Gaza.
An between Israel and Lebanon鈥檚 Hezbollah has complicated the U.S. push to prevent a regional conflict. Hezbollah described Saturday鈥檚 rockets as an 鈥渋nitial response鈥� to the targeted killing of a top Hamas leader in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut last week, presumed to have been carried out by Israel.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Jobain from Rafah, Gaza Strip.
Julia Frankel, Samy Magdy And Najib Jobainh, The Associated Press
