Reports of heavy fighting in southern Gaza

Situation in the Middle East - Reports of heavy fighting in southern Gaza

According to media reports, the Israeli military continued to massively attack targets of the Islamist Hamas and other terrorist groups in the southern Gaza Strip during the night. According to Israeli media reports, heavy fighting was reported from the south of the sealed-off coastal area.

They were concentrated in the area around Chan Junis. Parts of the Hamas leadership were said to be in the city. Hamas had reportedly fired rockets at the center of Israel again for the first time since the end of the week-long lull in fighting the previous day. According to Israeli figures, around 10,000 rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since the start of the Gaza war.

Fierce fighting also in southern Gaza

As the newspaper "The Times of Israel" further reported in the night, citing residents of the sealed-off Gaza Strip, the Israeli military had dropped leaflets in the city of Chan Junis calling on residents to flee to Rafah in the south. According to Israel's army, it has attacked hundreds of targets in the north and south of the Gaza Strip since the end of the ceasefire.

According to the army, areas booby-trapped with explosives, tunnel shafts, launching pads and Hamas command centers have been targeted. Targets in the north, as well as targets in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, were attacked. The information could not be independently verified.

Report: USA supplied Israel with bunker-busting bombs

According to a report, the USA supplied Israel with 100 bunker-busting bombs and tens of thousands of other weapons for the war. As the US newspaper "Wall Street Journal" reported, citing US officials, Israel was provided with 100 bunker-busting bombs alone following the unprecedented Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7. The delivery of additional weapons and ammunition, including around 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells, began shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel and has continued in recent days.

Israeli army fights "as long as necessary"

According to a spokesperson, Israel's army has not set a time limit for the Gaza war. "We are determined to fight Hamas for as long as it takes", said Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus, adding: "We have no other choice". Conricus reaffirmed his country's war aim of completely destroying the terrorist organization so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel in the future.

The spokesman was responding to media reports that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his recent talks with the Israeli leadership, had allegedly spoken of three weeks that Israel had to continue the war as before. Blinken was quoted in Israeli media as saying that he was not sure whether Israel would have the international support to continue fighting at the same intensity as before the ceasefire.

Body of hostage recovered

Meanwhile, Israel's military said it had recovered the body of an Israeli kidnapped in Gaza. It was recently discovered and brought back to Israel, the army announced on Friday evening. The body was identified on Wednesday. According to media reports, terrorists had kidnapped the 27-year-old on October 7 with around 240 other people in the Gaza Strip. He had been visiting the Supernova Festival with friends.

An Israeli military spokesperson also confirmed the death of four other hostages held by the Islamist Hamas. According to media reports, the bodies are still in the Gaza Strip. The military is still trying to obtain more information on the condition of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, the spokesman said.

Israel assumes 137 hostages are still alive

An Israeli government spokesman had previously announced that 137 hostages were still being held in the Gaza Strip. It was initially unclear whether this included the dead. On Friday evening, he put the number at 136, including 17 women and children. Since the beginning of the war against Hamas, Israeli ground troops had already recovered several Israeli bodies from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians: aid deliveries to Gaza stopped

According to Palestinian and Egyptian reports, no more aid deliveries have arrived in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire expired. Egypt is prepared to provide aid, according to security sources on Friday. However, this is not possible due to the Israeli bomb attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israel wants to get rid of Lynn Hastings, the representative of the UN emergency aid office Ocha for the Palestinian territories. The Israeli authorities have informed the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Friday that Hastings' visa, which expires in December, will not be renewed.

In the course of the Gaza war, Israel had repeatedly expressed its disapproval of Hastings. Ocha, in turn, had repeatedly criticized the lack of access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The United Nations is dependent on cooperation with Israel in order to get as many supplies as possible into the war zone.

What is important today

The fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip continues, as do the diplomatic efforts for a new ceasefire. The Islamist Hamas has called for solidarity demonstrations worldwide.