24-12-2023 (JERUSALEM) Israel launched a major offensive on Saturday (Dec 23) in its ongoing efforts to gain full control over northern Gaza, as the United Nations Security Council appealed for increased aid to the Palestinian enclave without mandating a ceasefire.
The town of Jabalia in northern Gaza, which houses the largest refugee camp in the region, was shrouded in thick smoke as residents reported relentless aerial bombardment and shelling from Israeli tanks that had advanced further into the town.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed to have destroyed five Israeli tanks in the area, killing and injuring their crews by reusing two undetonated missiles previously launched by Israel. However, Reuters was unable to independently verify this report.
The chief military spokesperson of Israel stated on Friday that its forces had achieved almost complete operational control of northern Gaza and were preparing to expand the ground offensive into other areas of the Strip, with a particular focus on the south.
United States President Joe Biden held discussions about the situation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, according to a statement from the White House. While expressing concern over the escalating casualties and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the US reaffirmed its support for Israel. Biden, however, declined to provide details about the conversation, describing it as a “private conversation,” but did state that he did not request a ceasefire.
After extensive negotiations to avoid a potential US veto, the UN Security Council passed a resolution on Friday, urging measures to facilitate “safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access” to Gaza and establish conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities. The resolution was a toned-down version of earlier drafts that demanded an immediate end to the 11-week-long conflict and aimed to curtail Israeli control over aid deliveries. The United States, Israel’s primary ally, abstained from the vote.
Both the US and Israel oppose a ceasefire, arguing that it would allow the Palestinian militant organization to regroup and rearm.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced on Saturday that they had fired decoy shots in the Issa area of Gaza City, luring dozens of militants away from a building that served as a Hamas headquarters in the northern part of the enclave. The IDF also released a video purportedly showing Hamas tunnels in the Issa area, but Reuters could not independently verify the location or the date. Israel accuses Hamas of deliberately placing tunnels and other military infrastructure among civilian areas to use them as human shields, a claim that Hamas denies.
Later in the day, residents and Palestinian media reported that Israeli tanks had shelled the town of Juhr ad-Deek in central Gaza, but there was no immediate information on casualties.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 201 Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 20,258 during the 11-week conflict. Thousands of bodies are believed to be trapped under rubble, and almost the entire population of Gaza, totaling 2.3 million people, has been displaced.
Since the start of the ground incursion on October 20, Israel has reported the deaths of 146 of its soldiers. The incursion was launched in response to a rampage by Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants on October 7, during which they killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages back into the enclave.
Israel’s Energy Minister Israel Katz, a member of the security cabinet, posted on X, stating, “We shall press ahead, for every fallen soldier, too. Until Hamas is eliminated. Until the hostages are returned.”
Hamas stated on Saturday that it had lost contact with a group responsible for holding five Israeli hostages due to Israeli bombardment. In response, an Israeli military spokesperson described the statement as “psychological terrorism” from Hamas.
Health officials and Hamas media reported that an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza resulted in the deaths of three people, including a journalist from Hamas’ Aqsa TV channel and two relatives.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, this journalist’s death brings the number of journalists killed in the conflict to at least 69.
The Israeli military maintains that it never intentionally targets journalists and expresses regret for civilian casualties. Israel places blame on Iran-backed Hamas for operating within densely populated areas, reiterating its stance that Israel’s security can only be ensured by eliminating the militant group.
Hamas’ Aqsa radio later reported that Israeli planes had bombed and destroyed the headquarters of Aqsa TV and radio station in Gaza City.
When questioned about Palestinian reports of a ground offensive near Kerem Shalom, east of the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, an IDF spokesperson declined to comment.
Residents of northern Gaza have long been urged by Israel to evacuate, although Israeli forces have also been targeting central and southern parts of the coastal enclave.
“They ask people to head to Deir al-Balah, where they bomb day and night,” said Ziad,a medic and father of six, who spoke to Reuters by phone.
In southern Gaza, Palestinian mourners gathered for the burial of a family of four killed in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis.
“International law has collapsed… If Israel were in the Palestinians’ position, the world would not stand still and would act,” said Ramzy Aidy, a Gaza resident with a doctorate in law.
Throughout the ongoing war, Hamas and its allies have launched rockets into Israel, most of which have been intercepted. However, on Saturday, sirens sounded in the north and east of Gaza after two days of relative calm.
The conflict has also spilled beyond Gaza’s borders, with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces targeting vessels in the Red Sea with missiles and drones in retaliation for Israel’s assault on the enclave. Hamas, which is backed by Iran, rules Gaza.
A British maritime security firm reported that an Israel-affiliated merchant vessel in the Arabian Sea, off India’s west coast, was hit by an unmanned aerial vehicle, causing a fire. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency received a report of the incident near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, approximately 45 nautical miles southwest of Saleef, Yemen.
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, as reported by Iranian media on Saturday, stated that the Mediterranean Sea could be closed if the United States and its allies continued to commit “crimes” in Gaza. The commander did not provide details on how this closure would occur.
