Israel pounds Gaza, Hamas fires rockets

FE Team | Published: January 01, 2024 22:14:08

GAZA, Jan 01 (Reuters/AP): Israeli jets intensified attacks on central Gaza on Sunday, residents and medics said, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps in a war Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would take "many more months" to end.
Netanyahu's comments signal no let-up in a campaign that has killed many thousands and levelled much of Gaza, while his vow to restore Israeli control over the enclave's border with Egypt raises new questions over an eventual two-state solution.
The Israeli military will release some reservists who were called up to fight Hamas in Gaza, a move it said on Sunday would help the economy as the country prepares for a prolonged war.
Air strikes pounded al-Maghazi and al-Bureij in the centre of Gaza, killing 10 people in one house and driving more to flee to Rafah on the border with Egypt from front lines where Israeli tanks are battling Hamas fighters.
Rockets fired from Gaza raced toward central Israel overnight, triggering sirens throughout the central and southern parts of the country. Israeli media carried footage of numerous interceptions. There were no reports of any direct hits. Hamas' armed wing said the barrage was in response to "massacres against civilians" in Gaza.
A Red Crescent video published on Sunday showed rescuers working in the dark to carry an injured child from smoking rubble in central Gaza. Six people died in a strike on the village of al-Mughraqa outside Gaza City, health officials said. A separate strike on a house in Khan Younis killed one person and wounded others, they added.
As 2023 drew to a close, Palestinians in Gaza prayed for a ceasefire but had little hope the new year would be better.
"Tonight the sky in world countries will be lit by firecrackers, and joyful laughs will fill the air. In Gaza our skies are now filled with Israeli missiles and tank shells that land on innocent, homeless civilians," said Zainab Khalil, 57, a resident from northern Gaza now in Rafah.
The stated goal of Israel's military is to eliminate Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that launched a surprise cross-border assault on Israeli towns on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and grabbing 240 hostages.
Israeli strikes in central
Gaza kill at least 35
Iraeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 35 people Sunday, hospital officials said, as fighting raged across the tiny enclave a day after Israel's prime minister said the war will continue for "many more months," resisting international calls for a cease-fire.
The military said Israeli forces were operating in Gaza's second-largest city, Khan Younis, and residents reported strikes in the central region, the latest focus of the nearly three-month air-and-ground war that has raised fears of a regional conflagration.
The U.S. military said its forces shot and killed several Iran-backed Houthi rebels when they tried to attack a cargo ship in the Red Sea, an escalation in a maritime conflict linked to the war. And an Israeli Cabinet minister suggested encouraging Gaza's population to emigrate, remarks that could worsen tensions with Egypt and other friendly Arab states.
Israel says it wants to destroy Hamas' governing and military capabilities in Gaza, from where it launched its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. The militants killed some 1,200 people after breaking through Israel's extensive border defenses, shattering its sense of security.