Israel bombed areas of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, with fighting throughout yesterday morning, residents and Palestinian media said, as the Israeli military announced a mounting death toll in clashes with Hamas militants.
Israel says it has achieved almost complete operational control over northern Gaza and is preparing to expand a ground offensive to other areas, but Jabalia residents reported persistent aerial bombardments and shelling from Israeli tanks, which they said had moved further into the town on Saturday.
The Israeli military appeared to be meeting stiff resistance.
Photo: AFP
It said yesterday that eight soldiers had been killed in the Strip, bringing to 154 its published combat losses since it began its ground incursion in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into Israel, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostage.
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed the “objectives and phasing” of Israel’s military operations, the White House said in a statement on Saturday.
Biden “emphasized the critical need to protect the civilian population, including those supporting the humanitarian aid operation, and the importance of allowing civilians to move safely away from areas of ongoing fighting,” the White House said.
Photo: AFP
“The leaders discussed the importance of securing the release of all remaining hostages,” it added.
However, Netanyahu, speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting yesterday, dismissed reports that the US had convinced Israel not to expand its military campaign.
The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported that Netanyahu was persuaded by Biden not to attack the militant Hezbollah group in neighboring Lebanon out of concerns it would launch an attack on Israel.
“Israel is a sovereign state,” Netanyahu said. “Our decisions in the war are based on our operational considerations, and I will not elaborate on that.”
The Palestinian death toll has reached 20,258, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday, with thousands more bodies believed trapped under rubble.
Israel has long urged residents to leave northern areas of Gaza, but its forces have been bombarding targets in central and southern parts of the coastal enclave.
In Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, an Israeli air strike on a house killed two people, Palestinian medics said.
“They ask people to head to Deir al-Balah [in central Gaza], where they bomb day and night,” Ziad, a medic and father of six, said by telephone.
“International law has collapsed,” said Ramzy Aidy, a Gaza resident with a doctorate in law. “If Israel were in the Palestinians’ position, the world would not stand still and would act.”
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