Fierce ground fighting is ongoing in the center of Khan Younis, killing dozens, as Palestinians start 2024 sheltering from Israeli shelling.
More than 100 people have been killed in Gaza over the past 24 hours, as the Hamas-Israel war rolls into the new year with no end in sight.
Around 48 people were killed overnight on December 31 in heavy Israeli bombing of Gaza City and hundreds injured, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Fierce fighting continues in pockets despite the Israel Defense Forces’ claim of having operational control over most of the north in the blockaded exclave.
Another air strike killed 20 people sheltering at al-Aqsa University in the west of Gaza City, according to witnesses.
Israeli forces are now targeting Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij, a belt of the crowded and underserved camps of the Gaza strip. Around 35 people were killed by Israeli bombing of these areas on Sunday. These camps were established to house Palestinian refugees who fled their homes during the 1948 over Israel’s creation. The camps’ populations have swelled after hundreds of thousands of newly displaced Palestinians shifted there since the latest leg of Hamas-Israel war started on 7 October.
Israel’s bombings and ground fighting has killed about 21,800 people, injured another 55,000 and left about half of Gaza’s housing stock in ruins.
Israel to withdraw troops to bolster readiness for future conflicts
Israel’s chief military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said late on Sunday that they were planning to withdraw some troops from Gaza as part of its “smart management” of the war. Hagari He did not say how many, and held out the possibility they would return at a later point in the war.
Isralei media reports suggest that up to five brigades, consisting of thousands of soldiers, are set to be withdrawn. However, it remains unclear whether this is part of a routine troop rotation or signifies a new phase in the conflict. Hagari also mentioned that some reservists will transition back to civilian life to support India’s wartime economy.
Iran calls on Security Council to act against Israel’s attacks on Syria
Iran’s foreign ministry has urged the UN Security Council to act promptly after Israel killed a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Razi Mousavi in Syria last week.
“Through Iran’s representative office, we communicated with the UN secretary general [Antonio Guterres] and called on the Security Council to commit to its duty of maintaining international peace and preventing regional peace from being compromised,” spokesman Nasser Kanani said in his weekly press conference.
Kanani described the assassination of Mousavi as a “blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and said both countries reserve the right to respond at a time of their choosing.