Year 2024 begins with rocket attacks on Israel and further shelling in the Gaza Strip
According to Palestinian reports, at least 24 people died in night-time attacks by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military in turn confirmed the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on Tel Aviv and the south of the country. 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," said 26-year-old Gabriel Zemelman, who was celebrating with friends in a bar in Tel Aviv.
The military wing of Hamas, the Essedin al-Kassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video posted on online networks. The radical Islamic 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". On Monday, there was also an air alert in northern Israel.
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip stated that at least 24 people had been killed in night-time Israeli attacks on Khan Yunis and at least seven other towns in the coastal strip. 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.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists on Sunday evening that some of the 300,000 reservists were taking a break from fighting to prepare for "ongoing battles". The army must "plan ahead, assuming that we will be needed for additional tasks and warfare throughout this year". The army is "adjusting the planning for the deployment of troops in Gaza and the reservist system".
"Some of the reservists will return to their families and to work this week," the army spokesman said. This will "significantly ease the burden on the economy" and allow the reservists "to gather strength for the upcoming activities next year, as the fighting will continue and they will still be needed".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already told his countrymen on Saturday that the Gaza war would continue for "many months" "until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned".
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. On Saturday, 120 trucks arrived with aid supplies.
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 21,978 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war until Monday, most of them women and children.
According to the Israeli army, 172 of its soldiers have died in the Gaza Strip so far.
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.
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Source: www.stern.de
