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© Reuters. Trails of smoke are seen within the sky, amid the continued battle between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from Israel, January 14, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Fadi Shana
DOHA/GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli tanks and plane hit targets in southern and central Gaza on Sunday and there have been fierce gun battles in some areas because the conflict reached 100 days for the reason that Oct. 7 assault led by gunmen from the Islamist Hamas motion.
Communications and web companies had been down for the third day operating, complicating the work of emergency and ambulance crews attempting to assist folks in areas hit by preventing.
The clashes had been concentrated within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, the place Hamas mentioned its fighters hit an Israeli tank, in addition to in Al-Bureij and Al Maghazi in central Gaza, the place the army mentioned a number of fighters had been killed.
Hamas’ armed wing spokesman, Abu Ubaida, mentioned on Sunday the destiny of many Israeli hostages captured on Oct. 7 has grow to be unknown.
In his first televised look for a number of weeks, marking the one hundredth day for the reason that outbreak of the conflict, he mentioned lots of the hostages “could have been killed”, blaming their destiny on Israel.
Hamas confirmed it retained rocketry capability, launching a contemporary salvo on Sunday at Ashdod, an Israeli city 40 km (25 miles) away. There was no phrase of any casualties.
Abu Ubaida mentioned the group had been instructed by “a number of events within the resistance fronts that they may develop their strikes on the Israeli enemy within the coming days.”
The Israeli army mentioned it destroyed a number of silos utilized by Hamas to fireplace missiles at Israel.
Over the previous 24 hours, the Gaza well being ministry mentioned 125 folks had been killed and 265 wounded, bringing the whole quantity confirmed to have been killed for the reason that begin of the conflict to nearly 24,000, with greater than 60,000 wounded.
Israel’s army mentioned it has killed round 9,000 Palestinian fighters, and misplaced 189 troopers, within the Gaza conflict to date.
Talking by means of video hyperlink to a convention in Istanbul, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh praised the Oct. 7 assault by the group’s fighters who rampaged by means of Israeli communities across the Gaza Strip, killing greater than 1,200 folks and seizing round 240 hostages, in keeping with Israeli tallies.
“We’re not seekers of wars. We’re seekers of freedom,” he mentioned, saying the assault was, partly, a response to the blockade Israel and neighbouring Egypt positioned on the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized management of the territory in 2007.
The Iranian-backed group is sworn to Israel’s destruction.
NEW PHASE OF WAR
The Israeli army says it has shifted to a brand new part of the conflict, targeted on the southern finish of the territory, the place nearly 2 million folks are actually sheltering in tents and different short-term lodging, after the preliminary part centred on clearing the northern finish together with Gaza Metropolis.
Within the northern Gaza Strip, well being officers mentioned an Israeli air strike killed a neighborhood journalist, elevating the variety of journalists killed within the Israeli offensive to greater than 100, in keeping with the Gaza authorities media workplace.
In an announcement on Dec. 16, in response to the demise of a journalist in Gaza, the Israeli military mentioned it “has by no means, and can by no means, intentionally goal journalists”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed requires a ceasefire, saying Israel will preserve going till it achieves full victory over Hamas and recovers the 132 remaining hostages.
The army says, although, the subsequent part of the conflict will see months of extra focused operations in opposition to the motion’s leaders and positions.
On Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the place there was a relentless, low-level change of fireside between troops and fighters from the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, the army mentioned it killed 4 armed militants attempting to cross the border.
It mentioned a number of anti-tank missiles had been fired into northern Israel, one among which hit a home in Kfar Yuval village. Medical officers mentioned a 76-year-old girl and her son had been killed. The son was within the village’s safety squad, the army mentioned.
In Rafah within the southern Gaza Strip, Nana, a 17-year-old highschool scholar displaced from northern Gaza, mentioned 100 days of conflict “turned our life the other way up.”
“We demand the occupation not solely to finish the conflict but additionally compensation for the psychological harm of displacement and the hardships endured,” she mentioned.
The conflict in Gaza has additionally stoked violence within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution. The Palestinian well being officers mentioned Israeli forces killed 5 Palestinians, together with boys aged 14, 16 and 17, in three separate incidents within the West Financial institution.
The Israeli army mentioned two Palestinians in a automobile rammed by means of one among its checkpoints close to Hebron and opened hearth on pursuing troops. They had been killed by return hearth, the army mentioned.
Requested a few 14-year-old boy killed close to Jericho, it mentioned troopers had shot at Palestinians who threw explosives at them.
Palestinian well being officers mentioned two boys aged 16 and 17 had been killed close to Ramallah within the West Financial institution. The Israeli army mentioned troops shot two Palestinians throwing a bomb at a military base.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Doha, Fadi Shana in Gaza; Further reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Modifying by Hugh Lawson, Sharon Singleton and Ros Russell)
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