Benjamin Netanyahu:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to regain control of the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, expanding Israel’s mission to eliminate Hamas in the conflict. Israel says the conflict is expected to last several months.
“This war is at its climax,” Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Saturday of the fighting since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its allies infiltrated into Israel, killing 1,200 people and killing 240 The hostages were captured.
He said the “Philadelphia Corridor” buffer zone along Gaza’s border with Egypt must be controlled by Israel.
“It must be closed,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. “It is clear that no other arrangement can ensure the demilitarization we seek.”
He did not elaborate, but the move by Israel is effectively a response to the 2005 invasion of Gaza. A reversal of the withdrawal would bring the enclave, which has been controlled by Hamas for years, entirely under Israeli control.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments about the buffer zone came as Israeli forces continued their offensive, which he reiterated would last “many months.”
Israel launched a full-scale attack on Gaza after Hamas suddenly invaded Gaza in October, displacing almost all of its 2.3 million residents, killing at least 21,672 Palestinians, injuring more than 56,000 and injuring thousands more, according to Gaza health authorities Probably died in the ruins.
Residents and medical staff said Saturday’s fighting was concentrated in Brighi, Nusirat, Magassi, and Khan Younis in central and southern Gaza.
Hamas media reported on Saturday (December 30) that Abdel-Fattah Maali, a senior member of the organization’s armed wing, was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza. It said Mali, who was from the West Bank, was freed in a prisoner exchange in 2011 and deported to Gaza. The report did not specify when he was killed.
Israel (Benjamin Netanyahu) says 172 Israeli troops have been killed in fighting in Gaza.
The conflict has raised concerns that it could spread across the region, potentially involving Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen that have fought wars with Israel and its U.S. ally or targeted commercial ships.
Israel cited progress in destroying Hamas infrastructure, including a tunnel facility in the basement of a home in Gaza City belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Troops also raided Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters and the Islamic Jihad command center in Khan Younis, destroying targets including a weapons manufacturing plant, a military statement said.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have both vowed to destroy Israel. They issued a statement saying their fighters destroyed and damaged several Israeli tanks and personnel carriers in attacks across Gaza on Saturday and that they fired mortars at Israeli forces in Khan Younis and Al-Brighi, as well as in northern Gaza.
Washington has been urging Israel to scale back the war and instead take targeted action against Hamas leaders and end what President Joe Biden has called “indiscriminate shelling,” but so far without success. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and says the militant group puts civilians at risk by using them as human shields, something Hamas denies.
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