Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a Cupboard assembly on the Kirya, which homes the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 17, 2023.
Menahem Kahanna | Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to battle deeper into Gaza after his troops endured one of many worst days of losses of their floor battle, whereas militant group Islamic Jihad joined talks in Cairo, an indication diplomacy was nonetheless alive.
The arrival of a delegation in Cairo headed by Islamic Jihad’s exiled chief Ziad al-Nakhlala adopted talks attended by Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in current days. Islamic Jihad, whereas smaller than Hamas, can be holding hostages in Gaza.
The militant teams have thus far stated they won’t talk about any launch of hostages except Israel ends its battle in Gaza, whereas the Israelis say they’re prepared to debate solely a short lived pause in preventing.
However neither facet has publicly walked away from talks that Washington final week described as “very serious,” whilst preventing has intensified all through the Gaza Strip since a truce collapsed firstly of December.
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The Cairo talks would middle on “ways to end the Israeli aggression on our people”, stated an Islamic Jihad official. The delegation will reaffirm the group’s place that any trade of hostages should safe the discharge of all Palestinians jailed in Israel, “after a ceasefire is achieved”, the official stated.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, each sworn to Israel’s destruction, are nonetheless believed to be holding greater than 100 hostages from amongst 240 they captured throughout their Oct. 7 rampage via Israeli cities, once they killed 1,200 individuals.
Since then, Israel has besieged the Gaza Strip and laid a lot of it to waste, with greater than 20,400 individuals confirmed killed, in response to Gaza authorities, and 1000’s extra believed lifeless underneath the rubble. The overwhelming majority of the two.3 million Gazans have been pushed from their houses and the United Nations says circumstances are catastrophic.
After a week-long truce collapsed firstly of the month, preventing has solely intensified on the bottom, with battle spreading from the north of the Gaza Strip to the total size of the enclave.
‘Tough day’
The Israeli army stated 10 of its troopers had been killed previously day, following 5 killed the day gone by, its worst two-day losses since early November.
“This is a difficult morning, after a very difficult day of fighting in Gaza,” Netanyahu stated at a cupboard assembly on Sunday. “The war is exacting a very heavy cost from us; however we have no choice (but) to continue to fight.”
In a later video message, he stated troops would battle on deeper into Gaza till “total victory” over Hamas, including: “We are doing everything to safeguard the lives of our warriors.”
Israel has been underneath intensifying stress in current weeks from its closest ally the US to scale down its army marketing campaign and scale back civilian deaths.
On Friday, Washington withheld its veto for the primary time from a U.N. Safety Council decision on the battle, permitting the decision to move after language calling for a right away halt to hostilities was watered down.
On Saturday, Israel’s army chief of employees stated his forces had largely achieved operational management within the north of Gaza and would increase operations additional within the south.
However residents say preventing has solely intensified in northern districts recently, notably Jabalia which Israeli forces have been pounding with air strikes in a single day and into Sunday. Tanks had moved additional into the city on Saturday.
Within the central a part of the Gaza Strip, medics stated six Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a home on the Bureij refugee camp, the place the Israeli military ordered individuals to evacuate and head west in direction of Deir Al-Balah metropolis.
Joudat Imad, 55, a father of six, needed to go away an space within the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza after a map revealed by the military marked it as a spot individuals needed to evacuate.
“I was lucky to get a tent in Rafah,” he informed Reuters by cellphone. “From an owner of two buildings to a refugee in a tent awaiting aid — that is what this brutal war has turned us to. The world is sick and inhumane that it can’t see Israel’s brutality and it is helpless to stop this war of destruction and starvation.”
In Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, an Israeli air strike on a home killed two individuals, Palestinian medics stated.
The Palestinian Crimson Crescent reported an assault on considered one of its predominant bases in Khan Younis within the southern Gaza Strip. It stated a 13-year-old youngster had been shot lifeless by an Israeli drone whereas contained in the Al-Amal Hospital.
The Israeli army has expressed remorse for civilian deaths however blames Hamas for working in densely populated areas or utilizing civilians as human shields, an allegation the group denies.
The battle has unfold, as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces disrupt international commerce with missile and drone assaults on vessels within the Crimson Sea in retaliation for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
The USA shot down 4 drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in direction of a U.S. destroyer within the southern Crimson Sea on Saturday, bringing to fifteen the variety of such assaults on business delivery, U.S. Central Command stated.
A drone launched from Iran struck a chemical tanker within the Indian Ocean on Saturday, the U.S. Protection Division stated.
