Netanyahu predicts many more months of war in the Gaza Strip by the end of the year
According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, 18 bodies were recovered after the overnight shelling in Gaza. It estimated a total of at least 40 dead. An eyewitness reported that he had seen dead bodies "everywhere": "Children are missing, we can't find them."
Attacks on the Al-Sawayda and Al-Mughasi refugee camps in the center of the Gaza Strip were also reported, resulting in numerous deaths. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa and the Hamas Ministry of Health, 68-year-old Yussef Salama, who used to be the Minister of Religious Affairs in the Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank, was also killed.
The Israeli army said on Sunday that it had killed around a dozen enemy fighters in ground battles and air and tank attacks. The soldiers had discovered further Hamas tunnels and defused explosive devices planted in a kindergarten.
The Israeli armed forces are engaged in a "complex battle", said Prime Minister Netanyahu on Saturday. "The war will continue for many months until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned." He wanted to "ensure that the Gaza Strip is no longer a threat to Israel".
In response to South Africa's accusation that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu replied on Sunday that his country is waging a war "whose justice and morality is without equal". Netanyahu is also under pressure in his own country. On Saturday evening, more than a thousand demonstrators in Tel Aviv once again called on him to bring all Hamas hostages home to Israel.
According to UN figures, 85 percent of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are on the run because of the fighting. The risk of disease and famine is growing.
Mahmud Abu Shahma, a 33-year-old from Chan Junis who has fled to a refugee camp in Rafah, formulated his wish for the New Year as follows: "We hope for the end of the war and that we can return home and live there peacefully."
New Year's Eve celebrations in Israel are also overshadowed by the war. Although the bars in Tel Aviv will be open all night, the celebratory mood is likely to be dampened by the fact that tens of thousands of young soldiers have been sent to the front in the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of fighters from Hamas, which is also classified as a terrorist organization by the EU, invaded Israel on 7 October and committed atrocities there, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli reports, around 1,140 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip, 129 of whom are said to still be held by Hamas.
Israel has been bombing targets in the Gaza Strip ever since. The Hamas-led Ministry of Health declared on Sunday that at least 21,822 people have been killed and 56,451 others injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. The figures cannot be independently verified.
Qatar and Egypt, which had negotiated a one-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at the end of November, are currently seeking a further ceasefire and the release of further hostages. The Palestinians will give their response to the mediation proposal "in the next few days", said Mohammed al-Hindi, Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad group, which is allied with Hamas.
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Source: www.stern.de
