Fierce fighting continues in southern Gaza

War in the Middle East - Fierce fighting continues in southern Gaza

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's army has now killed around half of all Islamist Hamas battalion commanders in the Gaza Strip. He said this at a press conference. Hamas is gradually losing control of the sealed-off coastal strip, added his Defense Minister Joav Galant.

The army previously announced that it had now also advanced "into the heart" of Chan Junis, the largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip. Following the army's request, hundreds of thousands of people seeking protection had fled from the previously fiercely contested north to the south of the territory.

Report: USA expects ground offensive by January

According to a media report, the US government assumes that Israel's massive ground offensive in the south will continue until January. As the US broadcaster CNN reported, citing several senior US government officials, Israel could switch to a "less intensive, highly localized strategy" targeting specific Hamas terrorists and leaders in a few weeks' time.

The White House is "deeply concerned" about how Israeli operations will evolve in the coming weeks, an official was quoted as saying. World opinion is increasingly turning against the current ground offensive, in which thousands of civilians are being killed, the broadcaster added.

USA: Entry restrictions for extremist settlers

The growing tensions in the West Bank are also a cause for concern. In response, the US government is imposing entry restrictions aimed at extremist Israeli settlers, among others. There has been an alarming increase in acts of violence, said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday.

During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem, among other territories. Around 600,000 Israelis live there today in more than 200 settlements. The Palestinians claim the territories as part of their own state. In 2016, the UN Security Council described these settlements as a violation of international law and called on Israel to stop all settlement activities.

USA: Israel must allow more aid into Gaza

Meanwhile, Miller addressed words of warning to Israel in the Gaza war. It must make an effort to get more aid into the Gaza Strip. "Not enough is being done at the moment," said Miller on Tuesday evening. The number of trucks currently arriving is around 100 per day. The number is lower than during the ceasefire that expired last Friday, Miller also explained. "It must be higher."

The UN Human Rights Office complained that Israeli attacks targeting or hitting civilian infrastructure "raise serious concerns about compliance with international humanitarian law and significantly increase the risk of atrocities". According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 16,200 people have now been killed in Gaza. This cannot be independently verified at present, but the UN and observers point out that the authority's figures have proven to be generally credible in the past.

Israel: We will not forget

Meanwhile, Israel's leadership remains adamant: "We will not forget and we will not forgive," said Netanyahu. The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other terrorist groups on October 7 in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1200 people were killed. According to the latest information from the Israeli army, 138 hostages are still being held by Hamas and other extremist groups.

According to its own statements, the Israeli military is now also taking action against Hamas strongholds in the south of the coastal region. In the end, there will no longer be a single Hamas battalion in the Gaza Strip that could pose a threat to Israel, Galant predicted. The Israeli army assumes that the terrorist organization has a total of 24 of these military units, each with around 1,000 members. The information could not be independently verified.

Biden condemns sexual violence by Hamas

Meanwhile, Netanyahu criticized human rights organizations and the UN for not having spoken out about Hamas' sexual crimes against women. US President Joe Biden condemned Hamas' sexual violence. In recent weeks, survivors and witnesses of the attacks on October 7 have described "horrific accounts of unimaginable atrocities", said Biden.

Hamas now understands that no one will save them, neither the Iranians nor the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, said Galant. According to Lebanese reports, several people were injured and one killed in renewed shelling on the border between Lebanon and Israel on Tuesday. The Lebanese army said that at least one soldier had been killed in an Israeli attack on a military base in the border area. It is the first Lebanese soldier to be killed in the current conflict. Three others were injured.

What is expected on Wednesday

Israel intensifies the fighting in southern Gaza. The humanitarian situation for the hundreds of thousands of civilians there is becoming increasingly precarious. Meanwhile, the G7 countries are meeting online.