New year begins with rocket attacks on Israel and further shelling in the Gaza Strip
The Israeli military confirmed the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on Tel Aviv and the south of the country, but initially gave no details of possible casualties or damage. According to AFP journalists, the rockets were intercepted by the air defense system in Tel Aviv.
Many of the people who had gathered on the streets for New Year's Eve celebrations tried to get to safety. "It was terrible. It's crazy that we're still alive," 26-year-old Gabriel Zemelman, who had been celebrating with friends in a Tel Aviv bar, told AFP.
The military wing of Hamas, the Essedin al-Kassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video posted on online networks. The Palestinian organization declared that it had used M90 rockets as a "response to the massacres of civilians carried out by Israel". Hamas had decided to "start the year 2024 with a hail of rockets on Israel".
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said that at least 24 people had been killed in overnight Israeli attacks on Khan Yunis and at least seven other towns across the Palestinian territory. At least 48 deaths had already been reported over the weekend. The Israeli army said on Sunday that it had discovered more Hamas tunnels and defused explosive devices planted in a kindergarten.
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.
20-year-old Hamdan Abu Arab said he was hoping for a better year in 2024 and recently reminisced with friends about "how we used to go out and celebrate the last day of the year. But this year on New Year's Eve there are only rockets and the remains of people."
Bassam Hana, 29, said he was "exhausted" because he had been "displaced five times during this war". "We hope that things will improve in 2024 and that we can live like all other human beings. At the moment we live like animals."
Israel and Hamas have been at war for almost three months. On 7 October, hundreds of fighters from Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, invaded Israel and committed atrocities, 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.
Since then, Israel has been bombing targets in the Gaza Strip and has launched a ground offensive. According to figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, at least 21,822 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war until Sunday, most of them women and children.
According to the Israeli army, 172 of its soldiers have died in the Gaza Strip so far. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his countrymen on Saturday that the Gaza war would continue for "many months" until "Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned".
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.
Qatar and Egypt, which had negotiated a week-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at the end of November, are currently trying to secure a further ceasefire and the release of more hostages. The Islamic Jihad group, which is allied with Hamas, announced a response to the mediation proposal "in the coming days".
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- The New Year began in the Gaza Strip with a series of rocket attacks directed toward Israel.
- These attacks began on Sunday, marking the start of a new year filled with tension.
- Hamas, the political entity governing the Gaza Strip, claimed responsibility for the missile attacks on Tel Aviv.
- The BMG, the military wing of Hamas, dubbed as the qassam brigades, admitted to launching the rockets as a retaliation against Israel.
- The Israeli military, in response, identified several Hamas tunnels and defused explosive devices in a Tel Aviv kindergarten on Sunday.
- During the same weekend, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, announced that the Gaza conflict would persist for "many months" until Hamas is dismantled and hostages are rescued.
- The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported at least 24 casualties due to overnight Israeli attacks, raising the weekend death toll to 48.
- AFP reported missile attack incidents in the Gaza Strip, with both sides engaging in hostile activities.
- The Israeli military confirmed that they had intercepted rockets launched from the Gaza Strip using their air defense system.
- The air defense system's successful interception prevented any reported damage or casualties in Tel Aviv, but citizens in the region were forced to seek shelter due to the alert.
- Since the violent escalation in October, both Israel and the Gaza Strip have faced extensive destruction, with hundreds killed and thousands displaced, according to official records from both sides.
Source: www.stern.de
