Israel has warned that the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip will continue “throughout” 2024 after a New Year’s Eve marked by incessant strikes on the besieged Palestinian territory and rocket fire on Tel -Aviv.
Nearly three months after the start of the war, triggered by a bloody attack launched on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement in Israel, army spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced to the troops on Sunday evening that certain reservists would make a pause in the war, in order to prepare for “prolonged fighting”.
The military “needs to plan ahead as we will be called upon for additional tasks and combat throughout this year,” he continued.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the attack carried out on its soil on October 7 from Gaza by commandos from this organization classified as “terrorist” by the United States, Israel and the European Union. This attack left around 1,140 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on the latest official Israeli figures.
In Israeli military operations of retaliation in Gaza, including intensive aerial bombardments, 21,822 people, mostly women, adolescents and children, have been killed since the start of the war.
On the ground, artillery fire and airstrikes particularly targeting the towns of Rafah and Khan Younes (south) on New Year’s Eve were reported by an AFP correspondent.
PHOTO MENAHEM KAHANA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Smoke rises over central Gaza after Israeli strikes on 1er January 2024.
At least 24 people were killed in the strikes, according to the Hamas health ministry. Also according to this source, 15 bodies from the same family were recovered Monday from the rubble of a house bombed Sunday evening in Jabaliya, in the north of Gaza.
“This is the worst year of our lives. They killed our sons,” said Sami Hamouda, 64.
The start of the new year was also punctuated by warning sirens in several parts of Israel. AFP journalists in Tel Aviv witnessed the rockets being intercepted by Israeli missile defense systems at precisely midnight.
“Terrified”
People celebrating the New Year on a festive street ran for cover, while others continued to party.
“I was terrified, it was the first time I saw missiles, it’s terrifying, this is the life we live, it’s crazy,” said Gabriel Zemelman, 26, outside a bar in Tel- Aviv where he had gathered with his friends for New Year’s Eve.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas in power in Gaza, claimed responsibility for this attack in a video posted on their social networks, claiming to have fired M90 rockets in “response to the massacres of civilians” perpetrated by Israel.
The Israeli army confirmed the rocket fire, without reporting any casualties or damage.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, where 85% of the population has been displaced and the humanitarian situation is desperate, the bombing continues unabated. The war will continue for “many months,” warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite pressing calls for a ceasefire.
The day before, at least 48 Palestinians were killed in strikes on Gaza City, and another strike on the campus of Al-Aqsa University in Gaza left at least 20 dead, according to the same source.
The Israeli army said it had killed more than a dozen enemy fighters in ground clashes, airstrikes and tank fire, adding that it had located Hamas tunnels and explosives at a kindergarten.
The war has caused immense destruction and a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, placed by Israel under total siege since October 9, where famine threatens and most hospitals are out of service.
“2023 was the worst year of my life,” says Ahmed al-Baz, 33, who had to leave his home in Gaza City for a makeshift camp in Rafah, in the south of the territory. “We experienced a tragedy that even our grandparents did not experience,” he continues. “We experienced hell and brushed shoulders with death itself. »
Regional tensions
International mediators, led by Qatar and Egypt, have been negotiating a pause in the fighting for several weeks, after a one-week truce at the end of November which allowed the release of more than 100 hostages and the entry into Gaza of a limited help.
A Hamas delegation traveled to Cairo on Friday to convey “the response of the Palestinian factions” to an Egyptian plan providing for the release of hostages and a pause in hostilities.
The war in Gaza, which raises fears of a regional conflagration, has also reignited tensions on the border between Lebanon and Israel, an almost daily scene of exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah, an Islamist movement close to Iran and which supports Hamas.
The Israeli army also announced on Sunday evening that it had identified and intercepted a “hostile air target” coming from Syria, as well as a “hostile aircraft” which was heading towards its territory.
In the Red Sea, the American army announced on Sunday that it had sunk three boats of Yemeni Houthi rebels allied with Iran, accused of having attacked a container ship. Ten of them were killed by this attack by the “American enemy,” rebel spokesperson Yahya Saree confirmed on X.
Since the start of the war on October 7, the Houthis have shown their support for the Palestinians in Gaza by threatening traffic on this strategic sea route.