Israel attacks Gaza City neighborhoods
Gaza City is once again in the cross-hairs of the Israeli army. In the bombed-out headquarters of the UNRWA refugee aid organization UNRWA, Islamists are reportedly hiding. The Hamas is threatening to halt negotiations for the release of hostages.
The Israeli military, according to its own statements, has advanced further in the southern and western parts of the city Gaza. The Israeli troops reached the UN Central Office of the UN-refugee agency UNRWA. This is not in operation due to the war. The military has initiated anti-terror operations in the area, the army reported. Civilians were ordered to leave the area by the army before the operation began. The army radio reported fighting with Hamas militants. According to Palestinian hospital reports, at least 15 people were killed. The number of casualties could still rise, as the rescue services cannot reach many residential areas due to the fighting. The information could not be verified independently.
The Islamist Hamas sees the fighting as a threat to the indirect negotiation process for a ceasefire and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. In a statement, the Hamas warned the foreign chiefs of the organization, the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, that the Israeli military's actions in Gaza City could lead to the failure of the ongoing negotiations.
The Israeli military had already advanced several times in the metropolis in the northern part of the sealed coastal region during the Gaza War. Residents of the affected neighborhoods were shocked by the nightly advance. According to a dpa correspondent, they spoke of a "night of terror".
Attacks on targets in Nuseirat and Lebanon
The Israeli army announced in the night that it had attacked several terrorists hiding in a school building in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip from the air. The group of fighters from the Islamist Hamas and Islamic Jihad (PIJ) was targeted with precision munition to avoid civilian casualties. Further details were not provided. The Israeli army reiterated that the two terrorist organizations "systematically violate international law" by "using civilian institutions and the population as human shields for terrorist attacks against the State of Israel".
The Israeli military killed a fighter of the Shia militia Hezbollah with a targeted air strike in Tyre, South Lebanon. The man was hit by a drone while on a motorcycle, Hezbollah reported. The Israeli military confirmed the targeted killing. The person targeted was a member of the rocket unit of Hezbollah, who was allegedly involved in numerous attacks on Israel.
The cause of the war was the unprecedented massacre committed by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations in the south of Israel on October 7 of the previous year. Hezbollah has been firing rockets and other projectiles at northern Israel since then - "in solidarity" with Hamas, as they claim.
- The United Nations expressed concern over the ongoing Israel war in the Gaza Strip, particularly the bombing of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City, which is home to many refugees displaced by the conflict.
- Following the escalation of the Israel war, Hamas warned the United Nations and international mediators that Israel's military operations in Gaza could jeopardize the ongoing indirect negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
- The Israeli army, in response to rocket attacks from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, launched a military operation in the Nuseirat area of the Gaza Strip, targeting terrorists hiding in a school building with precision munitions to avoid civilian casualties.
