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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a Cupboard assembly on the Kirya, which homes the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 17, 2023.
Menahem Kahanna | Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to struggle deeper into Gaza after his troops endured one of many worst days of losses of their floor conflict, whereas militant group Islamic Jihad joined talks in Cairo, an indication diplomacy was nonetheless alive.
The arrival of a delegation in Cairo headed by Islamic Jihad’s exiled chief Ziad al-Nakhlala adopted talks attended by Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in current days. Islamic Jihad, whereas smaller than Hamas, can also be holding hostages in Gaza.
The militant teams have to date stated they won’t focus on any launch of hostages until Israel ends its conflict in Gaza, whereas the Israelis say they’re keen to debate solely a brief pause in combating.
However neither facet has publicly walked away from talks that Washington final week described as “very severe,” at the same time as combating has intensified all through the Gaza Strip since a truce collapsed in the beginning of December.
Learn extra in regards to the Israel-Hamas conflict:
The Cairo talks would heart on “methods to finish the Israeli aggression on our folks”, stated an Islamic Jihad official. The delegation will reaffirm the group’s place that any alternate of hostages should safe the discharge of all Palestinians jailed in Israel, “after a ceasefire is achieved”, the official stated.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, each sworn to Israel’s destruction, are nonetheless believed to be holding greater than 100 hostages from amongst 240 they captured throughout their Oct. 7 rampage by way of Israeli cities, once they killed 1,200 folks.
Since then, Israel has besieged the Gaza Strip and laid a lot of it to waste, with greater than 20,400 folks confirmed killed, in line with Gaza authorities, and hundreds extra believed lifeless beneath the rubble. The overwhelming majority of the two.3 million Gazans have been pushed from their properties and the United Nations says circumstances are catastrophic.
After a week-long truce collapsed in the beginning of the month, combating has solely intensified on the bottom, with conflict spreading from the north of the Gaza Strip to the complete size of the enclave.
‘Troublesome day’
The Israeli army stated 10 of its troopers had been killed up to now day, following 5 killed the day gone by, its worst two-day losses since early November.
“This can be a troublesome morning, after a really troublesome day of combating in Gaza,” Netanyahu stated at a cupboard assembly on Sunday. “The conflict is exacting a really heavy price from us; nonetheless we have now no alternative (however) to proceed to struggle.”
In a later video message, he stated troops would struggle on deeper into Gaza till “whole victory” over Hamas, including: “We’re doing the whole lot to safeguard the lives of our warriors.”
Israel has been beneath intensifying stress in current weeks from its closest ally the US to scale down its army marketing campaign and cut back civilian deaths.
On Friday, Washington withheld its veto for the primary time from a U.N. Safety Council decision on the conflict, permitting the decision to cross after language calling for a right away halt to hostilities was watered down.
On Saturday, Israel’s army chief of employees stated his forces had largely achieved operational management within the north of Gaza and would increase operations additional within the south.
However residents say combating has solely intensified in northern districts these days, notably Jabalia which Israeli forces had been pounding with air strikes in a single day and into Sunday. Tanks had moved additional into the city on Saturday.
Within the central a part of the Gaza Strip, medics stated six Palestinians had been killed in an Israeli air strike on a home on the Bureij refugee camp, the place the Israeli military ordered folks to evacuate and head west in direction of Deir Al-Balah metropolis.
Joudat Imad, 55, a father of six, needed to go away an space within the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza after a map printed by the military marked it as a spot folks needed to evacuate.
“I used to be fortunate to get a tent in Rafah,” he informed Reuters by telephone. “From an proprietor of two buildings to a refugee in a tent awaiting support — that’s what this brutal conflict has turned us to. The world is sick and inhumane that it may’t see Israel’s brutality and it’s helpless to cease this conflict of destruction and hunger.”
In Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, an Israeli air strike on a home killed two folks, Palestinian medics stated.
The Palestinian Crimson Crescent reported an assault on certainly one of its most important bases in Khan Younis within the southern Gaza Strip. It stated a 13-year-old baby had been shot lifeless by an Israeli drone whereas contained in the Al-Amal Hospital.
The Israeli army has expressed remorse for civilian deaths however blames Hamas for working in densely populated areas or utilizing civilians as human shields, an allegation the group denies.
The battle has unfold, as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces disrupt international commerce with missile and drone assaults on vessels within the Crimson Sea in retaliation for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
America shot down 4 drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in direction of a U.S. destroyer within the southern Crimson Sea on Saturday, bringing to fifteen the variety of such assaults on business delivery, U.S. Central Command stated.
A drone launched from Iran struck a chemical tanker within the Indian Ocean on Saturday, the U.S. Protection Division stated.
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