IMore and more Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip are laying down their arms – a clear sign for the Israeli security forces that the Islamist organization's fighting spirit is breaking. “We are putting a lot of pressure on it. I think the fact that they surrender and come out with their hands up shows that their fighting spirit is broken. This accelerates our successes, after all we want to make rapid progress,” said Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi on Monday at a meeting with the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service, Ronen Bar, in the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis. “We are securing our territorial gains in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli armed forces are engaged in bitter urban warfare with Hamas units in the second largest city in the Gaza Strip. They suspect Khan Yunis to be the leadership of the Islamist organization and the hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli sources, more and more Hamas fighters have surrendered in recent days. In addition, according to National Security Advisor Zachi Hanegbi, around 7,000 Hamas terrorists have been killed so far.
Israel captures over 500 Islamist fighters in a month
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 people were killed in the unprecedented attacks. Israel then began massive air strikes and, since the end of October, a ground offensive in the area. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 18,000 people have now been killed and more than 49,200 injured.
The Israeli military said it captured over 500 members of Islamist terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip last month. 350 of them belonged to Hamas, which ruled the Gaza Strip before the war, and 120 to the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad, the army leadership said. The military counterintelligence and the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet would subject the prisoners to further interrogations.
According to the Israeli armed forces, 104 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip began. Five military personnel were killed in a battle in the southern town of Khan Yunis on Sunday alone. They fell victim to a booby trap while advancing against a Hamas terrorist cell. A total of 432 Israeli soldiers died in the Gaza war. The figure includes the military casualties caused by the Islamist Hamas massacre at the start of the war. The army's casualty record also takes into account soldiers who died in fighting with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon on Israel's northern border, as well as the victims of accidents in action.
Israel is opening another border crossing for the transport of aid to the suffering civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Trucks carrying goods for Gaza will in future also be able to use the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the Israeli Cogat authority, which is responsible for contacts with the Palestinians, and the military announced on Monday evening. However, as with the previously used Nitzana crossing, the trucks will not drive directly into the Gaza Strip. Instead, they head for the Rafah crossing via Egypt. Israel inspects trucks at its border crossings to prevent weapons from being smuggled. Water, food, tents and medical supplies can be brought to Gaza.
Like in the world war: EU representative calls the situation in Gaza apocalyptic
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the situation in the Gaza Strip as apocalyptic. The destruction of buildings by the Israeli attacks was equivalent to that in German cities during the Second World War or even greater, said the Spaniard after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. 60 to 70 percent of the people killed were civilians. The number of civilian casualties was unbelievable, he criticized. In the evening, Borrell also spoke of 1.9 million people who had to leave their apartments and houses. This corresponds to 85 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations is having difficulty accepting aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip. “The UN's ability to accept incoming aid has been significantly compromised over the past few days,” said the UN emergency agency OCHA. The reason is a “shortage of trucks in Gaza, telecommunications failures and the growing number of employees who are unable to travel to the Rafah border crossing due to the intensity of fighting.”
After the failure of a ceasefire resolution for the Gaza war in the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly plans to consider a similar draft on Tuesday. The text of the resolution introduced by Egypt calls, among other things, for a humanitarian ceasefire. A passage is considered very likely. However, UN General Assembly resolutions are not binding, but merely symbolic.
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