Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Three weeks before it observes the second anniversary of Hamas’ gunning down of 1,200 Israelis, the Jewish state launched an expanded operation on Tuesday in Gaza City to annex it as the death toll in the ongoing war crossed the 64,800 mark.
The fresh Israeli assault may widen the scope of war in the Middle East.
The United Nations estimated on Monday that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled Northern Gaza over the past month, after the Israeli military warned that all residents should leave Gaza City ahead of the impending operation. An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the region around Gaza City before the evacuation warnings.
Ahead of launching its final ground assault, Israel warned Gaza City residents to leave. Shifa Hospital said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in a western neighbourhood, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility, the media reported on Tuesday.
Israel’s fresh military operation came after weeks of threatening an expansion of the war to Gaza City, the media reported.
After a night of incessant airstrikes, the Israeli military announced on Tuesday its expanded operation in Gaza City to destroy terror group Hamas’ military infrastructure, and warned residents to move south.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel for Qatar to meet with its ruling emir as the nation is still incensed over Israel’s strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.
While Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit Monday, they stopped short of any major action targeting Israel. Egypt, however, dubbed Israel as “enemy” for the first time in years.
Rubio, before his departure to Qatar, suggested the offensive on Gaza City had begun.
“Our preference, our No. 1 choice, is that this war ends through a negotiated settlement,” he added, while acknowledging the dangers an intensified military campaign posed to Gaza.
“At some point, Hamas must be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation. But I think time, unfortunately, is running out.”
“The (Israeli) military is striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and soldiers are fighting heroically to create the conditions for the release of the (remaining) hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back until the completion of the mission,” an Israeli military official said.
Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City on Tuesday morning. Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, said Israel’s bombing did not stop for a single moment. There are still bodies under the rubble.
Overnight, worried families of the hostages still being held in Gaza gathered outside of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, pleading with him to stop the Gaza City operation to ensure the captives’ potential release. Some protesters even pitched tents and slept outside his home.
Israel believes around 20 of the 48 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are alive. Hamas has said it will only free remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The ongoing war in Gaza began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into Southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefires brokered in part by Qatar or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which did not identity civilians from combatants. Women and children make up around half the dead.
Egypt, which has had a peace deal with Israel for decades and has served as a mediator in the war in Gaza, appears to be losing its patience with Israel.
For the first time since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi described Israel as an “enemy” in a fiery speech at the Qatar summit on Monday.
Egypt was the first Arab country to establish ties with Israel and their peace treaty is seen as a cornerstone for stability in the volatile region.
El-Sissi’s comment played prominently across Egyptian newspapers’ front pages on Tuesday and while Cairo has taken no steps to change its status with Israel, the Egyptian government likely is trying to signal just how seriously it takes Israel’s recent actions.