Israel dismantles the Hamas militia in northern Gaza and concentrates its attacks on the center and south of the Strip

While the heads of diplomacy of the United States and the European Union work to contain the expansion of the Gaza war throughout the Middle East, Israel is sending contradictory signals about the future of the conflict. The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted this Sunday that “the war should not be stopped until all the objectives are achieved: the elimination of Hamas, the return of all the hostages and that Gaza ceases to constitute a threat.” [para el Estado judío]”. “I say this to both our enemies and our friends,” he warned at the beginning of the weekly government meeting, on the eve of the arrival in Israel of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

The army, however, has already declared the Ezedin al-Qasam militia, the armed wing of Hamas, “dismantled” in its fiefdom in the north of the Strip, while the Ministry of Defense is advancing post-war plans and ordering the demobilization of tens of thousands of reservists called up three months ago now. He Chief Spokesman of the Armed Forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, announced late Saturday that Israeli troops had completely dismantled “the military structure” of Hamas in northern Gaza, where they had eliminated some 8,000 Palestinian militants. “Now we are focused on dismantling Hamas units in the center and south of the Strip,” he assured, although with a “different approach,” the details of which he did not specify, as well as the scope of the entity of the Islamist forces active in the different forces of the territory.

The Minister of Defense, former general Yoav Gallant, alluded on Friday to “operations against specific objectives”, in contrast to the massive bombings usual during the last three months. In the Rafah pocket, on the border with Egypt, and the besieged Khan Younis refugee camp (southern the Strip), nearly two million civilians are crowded in inhumane conditions. Israel maintains that Hamas's military wing hides its leadership in a network of tunnels that, it claims, cross both populated areas, creating an “underground city full of terrorists.”

Sources from the military intelligence services cited by the Hebrew press admit that there are still groups of Hamas fighters in the north of the Palestinian enclave, although they now only act on their own, outside the organization's chain of command, in ambushes. and isolated sabotage against Israeli forces. “Right now, we are focused on central and southern Gaza,” Rear Admiral Hagari said, “based on experiences gained so far in the conflict.”

The international community, led by the US and the EU, has called on Israel to minimize the harm caused to civilians in its military operations. At least 113 people have lost their lives in the bombings in recent hours in Gaza, according to records from the Ministry of Health of the enclave, de facto governed by Hamas for 17 years. The balance of three months of hostilities is now close to 23,000 dead in the Strip, of which 70% are women and minors.

At least two Palestinian journalists have died this Sunday in an Israeli attack, including Hamza al Dahduh, son of the delegate of the Al Jazeera television network in Gaza, Wael al Dahduh, who has lost part of his family in the Israeli bombings. . Mustafa Thuraya, who was accompanying him in a car near Rafah, also died, Gaza authorities reported. The Al Jazeera network, based in Qatar, has accused the Israeli army of “deliberately attacking” Palestinian journalists in the Strip, most of whom collaborated with international media, whose presence on the ground has been vetoed by the Israeli Government. since the beginning of the conflict. At least 110 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian sources, which also include intellectuals and online news broadcasters. The Committee to Protect Journalists limits the number of reporters killed in the Strip to 77.

In addition to containing the death of civilians in the Palestinian enclave, international diplomacy is particularly concerned about the escalation between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia on the Lebanese border after the death of Hamas number two, Saleh el Aruri, in an attack in Beirut. The exchange of attacks reached its highest level in three months of conflict on Saturday, when Hezbollah attacked a strategic air surveillance center in the northern Galilee. This Sunday both sides reduced the intensity of hostilities. Israeli aircraft bombed positions of the pro-Iran group after intercepting a “hostile aircraft” that had entered Israeli airspace. The Lebanese Shiite militia confirmed that five of its fighters were killed by Israeli strikes on Saturday.

Senior officials in the US Administration have expressed concern about the option of Netanyahu extending the war to Lebanon for reasons of “political survival,” according to what the newspaper published this Sunday. Washington Post. Those sources also noted that the US Defense Intelligence Agency has warned that it will be difficult for the Israeli military to launch a successful incursion into Lebanon while its operations remain concentrated in the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Israelis summoned by the relatives of the 139 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7 demanded the resignation of the prime minister on Saturday night in Tel Aviv.

Two other journalists killed

The unstoppable extension of the conflict also threatens the West Bank, where this Sunday at least seven Palestinians were killed in an attack with an Israeli artillery drone in the city of Jenin, in the north of the territory, a stronghold of armed groups and radical Palestinian movements that escape control. control of the Palestinian Authority and where clashes have been taking place for more than a year. An Israeli border police officer also lost her life when a bomb exploded near her vehicle near Jenin.

A four-year-old Palestinian girl was also killed this Sunday by Israeli Border Police officers at a checkpoint near Jerusalem. The police had opened fire on a car driven by a Palestinian who was allegedly trying to run them over. The little girl was traveling in another vehicle.

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