As the battle rages in Gaza, Israel issues warnings on another front

Street-to-street fighting raged Monday in what Israel described as three Hamas strongholds in the Gaza Strip, as top Israeli officials warned that increased attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah from Lebanon could trigger a strong response.

Fighting “fierce and difficult battles,” the Israeli army said Monday that the number of soldiers killed in the ground invasion of Gaza had exceeded 100 — a fraction of the death toll among Palestinian civilians and Hamas fighters, but a measure of the intensity of urban warfare.

At the same time, in a sign that the smoldering tensions stoked by the Gaza war in the Middle East could increase, Israeli leaders have hinted at escalating a conflict on another front, with Hezbollah, which like Hamas backed by Iran.

Increasing Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel “require Israel to eliminate such a threat,” War Cabinet member and former Defense Secretary Benny Gantz told U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, in a telephone conversation, according to a statement from Mr. Gantz’s office.

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Sunday during a visit to the northern border with Lebanon that Hezbollah risks pushing its forces to make a “very clear change” in the confrontation. Neither he nor Mr. Gantz elaborated on what additional steps Israel might take, but General Halevi said Israel needs a return of “both security and a sense of security” on both borders.

A third Iranian-backed militia, the Houthis, threatened this weekend to step up attacks on Israel-bound ships passing through the Red Sea. The French navy said on Sunday that one of its frigates had shot down two drones there launched from Yemen, where the Houthis are based.

In Gaza the That’s what the Israeli army said it had taken control of the area around Hamas’s former headquarters in Gaza City and released images of soldiers firing gunfire as they moved tensely through nearly deserted, rubble-filled streets.

Vice Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli army, told reporters that it was focusing on fighting in three areas that are Hamas strongholds: Jabaliya and Shajaiye, two neighborhoods in northern Gaza, and in Khan Younis, the largest city in Gaza. the south of Gaza.

Jabaliya, a densely populated area just north of Gaza City, has been mercilessly hit by Israeli forces since the early weeks of the war, including with at least two 2,000-pound bombs during an airstrike last month, according to a New York Times analysis. Israeli forces have also attacked Shajaiye, a residential area, since the start of their ground invasion.

The heavy fighting came as the United Nations and aid agencies warned of what António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said was chaos and the risk of epidemics in the shrinking parts of the area where civilians have taken refuge from Israeli bombings.

More than 15,000 Palestinians – possibly many more – have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its retaliatory campaign against Hamas in response to the October 7 Hamas-led raids that killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israeli officials say their forces have killed thousands of Hamas fighters; According to Gaza authorities, most of the dead are women and children.

A number of European countries that have been vocal in calling for a ceasefire tried Monday to strike a balance between supporting Israel’s efforts to defeat Hamas and maintaining pressure on Israel to curb civilian suffering.

European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss sanctions against Hamas, after France, Italy and Germany sent a joint letter to Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU’s top diplomat, urging the bloc urged to “take all necessary measures” against the group.

“This implies a stronger European commitment both to combating Hamas’s infrastructure and financial support, and to isolating and delegitimizing Hamas internationally,” the ministers wrote in the letter, adding that Hamas “does not in any way harm Palestinians.” or represents their legitimate aspirations.”

The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million of Gaza’s approximately 2.3 million residents have been driven from their homes. Most of them have been pushed to parts of the south where they lack basic needs such as food, clean water and sanitation.

Aid groups have accused Israel of trying to drive Gaza residents into Egypt, charges Israel denies. The Egyptian government has said it will not accept Palestinian refugees.

As Israel’s war with Hamas enters its third month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is resisting mounting international pressure to scale back the military campaign.

Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had recently spoken with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France and other leaders, urging them to continue supporting Israel’s war until Hamas was driven out of Gaza. “I told them that on the one hand you cannot support the elimination of Hamas and pressure us to end the war, which would prevent the elimination of Hamas,” Netanyahu told members of his cabinet in a video statement.

At home, Netanyahu’s government has faced pressure to at least seek another pause in the fighting from the families of the roughly 137 hostages captured in the Hamas attack on Israel who remain in Gaza, though it is unclear is what Hamas would demand for their expenditure. More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire that began on November 24, in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

At least 20 hostages were reportedly killed after being kidnapped, according to Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy, raising concerns about the fate of the rest. Hamas has claimed that many have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

The Biden administration has publicly supported the Israeli government for now, despite criticism, saying it has not set a deadline for Israel to end the war. On Friday, the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The Israeli military, which has been criticized by Mr Macron and others for failing to clearly set out an exit strategy, says its forces are engaged in intense fighting with Hamas in areas where the group says it still has “strongholds”. The Israeli army now controls the area in Gaza City around Palestine Square, home to municipal offices and the headquarters of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the enclave, Admiral Hagari said at a news conference late on Sunday.

As of Monday, 104 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion began in late October. In its announcements of the deaths, Israel describes its soldiers as martyrs – the same language Hamas uses when its fighters are killed.

Israel has not yet found Mr Sinwar, who they say is hiding in southern Gaza. Officials said last week that Israeli forces had surrounded his home in the Khan Younis region, although his location was unknown. Military officials have described him as a “mastermind” of the October 7 attacks in Israel, and Admiral Hagari said capturing or killing him was still an objective of the war.

The director of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzahi Hanegbi, has rejected the idea that the lives of Mr. Sinwar and other top Hamas leaders could be spared if they went into exile outside Gaza, such as Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization , did so in 1982 during an Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

“I believe Sinwar is not a partner for such a model,” Mr. Hanegbi told Israel’s Channel 12 in an interview broadcast last weekend. “But if we kill him, which is the intention, perhaps the leadership that succeeds him will understand that to avoid his fate, it must leave the Gaza Strip humiliated, but at least save his life.”

Reporting was contributed by Rami Nazzal, Efrat Livni, Euan district, Hwaida Saad, Aurelien Breeden, Gaia Pianigiani, Ben Hubbard, Vivian Nereim And Aaron Bokserman.