Gaza:

Israel’s army chief warned that its war with Hamas would last “several months” as the military stepped up attacks inside the Gaza Strip, where more than 20,000 people have already been killed.

Concerns over the growing humanitarian crisis inside the besieged region have fueled calls for an end to hostilities, while incidents involving resistance groups acting in solidarity with Hamas have fueled fears of wider regional conflict.

On Tuesday, the United States reported shooting down a series of drones and missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi fighters over the Red Sea.

But Israel’s leaders have repeatedly vowed to continue their offensive until Hamas is destroyed, and army chief Herzi Halevi signaled there would be no imminent end to the war.

“The objectives of this war are essential and not easy to achieve,” Halevi said Tuesday night.

“Therefore, the war will continue for several months.”

Israel responded to Hamas’ October 7 attack with a ground offensive followed by sustained bombing and a siege. At least 20,915 people have been killed in this campaign, mostly women and children.

Since the siege was imposed, Gaza’s 2.4 million people are facing severe shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine, with only limited aid reaching the area. According to the United Nations, an estimated 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced.

In the southern city of Rafah, where many displaced people have sought refuge, hundreds of people carried baskets, pulled carts and even pushed wheelchairs filled with bottles to the Abdul Salam Yassin Water Company on Tuesday to queue for clean water. Happened.

“It was my father’s car,” said Rafah resident Amir al-Zaher. “He was martyred during the war. He used it to transport and sell fish, and now we are using it to transport fresh water.”

Elsewhere in the city, people broke wood and stockpiled firewood as fuel shortages forced them to burn wood for cooking and staying warm.

One woman took advantage of the sunshine on Tuesday to wash her family’s clothes by hand, telling AFP: “I’ve begged people for water. I have absolutely nothing. I’ve washed everything, even blankets.” also, borrowed from others.”

The UN Security Council in a resolution last week called for “the safe and unhindered delivery of large-scale humanitarian assistance”.

It requested the appointment of a UN humanitarian coordinator to monitor and verify third-country aid to Gaza and on Tuesday named outgoing Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag to the post.

The resolution, which did not call for an immediate end to the fighting, effectively leaves Israel with operational oversight of aid delivery.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that troops “were fighting in the southern Gaza Strip in the area of ​​Khan Yunis, and we have extended the fighting to the area known as the central camps”.

Three more Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza on Tuesday, the army said, bringing the total to 161 since the ground offensive began on October 27. The probable death toll is much higher than that reported by Israeli officials.

The UN human rights office said it was “gravely concerned about the ongoing bombardment of central Gaza by Israeli forces”, particularly after the army ordered residents to evacuate to the central and southern areas.

France, Israel’s staunchest ally, also said it was concerned by Israel’s pledge to escalate and prolong the fighting.
Violence has also flared up in the occupied West Bank since the war began.

An Israeli operation early Wednesday killed six people in a refugee camp in the north of the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

According to the ministry, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since the war began.

The war has also affected the entire region and the activities of armed groups have increased.

US military forces shot down more than a dozen attack drones and several missiles fired by Houthi fighters at shipping in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, but no damage or injuries were reported.

The Houthis also claimed a missile attack on a ship in the Red Sea and a drone strike toward Israel, their latest actions in solidarity with Gaza.

The Israeli military said one of its fighter planes had “intercepted a hostile air target in the Red Sea area that was headed towards Israeli territory”.

Egyptian broadcaster Al-Qahera News reported that a flying object fell about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the coastal city of Dahab. The city is located on Israel’s southern tip, about 125 kilometers south of Eilat, the nearest target of Yemen’s rebels.

In Iraq, the US military launched attacks on groups it blamed for several attacks on US and allied forces during the Israel-Hamas war.

Iraqi officials said at least one person was killed in the attack.

Israel’s military said an anti-tank missile fired by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement wounded nine soldiers, while Hezbollah announced the deaths of two of its fighters.

The incidents follow the death of Razi Mousavi, a senior commander of the Quds Force – the foreign wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – in an Israeli strike in Syria on Monday.