Israel wraps up major combat in N Gaza

FE Team | Published: January 07, 2024 22:09:02

JERUSALEM, Jan 07 (AP/Reuters/BBC/AFP): The Israeli military signaled that it has wrapped up major combat in northern Gaza, saying it has completed dismantling Hamas' military infrastructure there, as the war against the militant group entered its fourth month Sunday.
Its spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said late Saturday that forces would "continue to deepen the achievement" there, strengthen defenses along the Israel-Gaza border fence and focus on the central and southern parts of the territory.
The announcement came ahead of a visit to Israel by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Biden administration officials, including Blinken, have repeatedly urged Israel to wind down its blistering air and ground offensive in Gaza and shift to more targeted attacks against Hamas leaders to prevent harm to Palestinian civilians.
In recent weeks, Israel had already been scaling back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressing its offensive in the territory's south, where most of Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians are being squeezed into smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster while being pounded by Israeli airstrikes.
Western diplomats try to
stop Gaza war's spread
Top US and European diplomats sought ways on Sunday to keep the Gaza war from spreading further in the Middle East, but three months after the start of the conflict, more bloodshed underlined the difficulties they face.
Israeli aircraft fired on Palestinian militants who had attacked troops in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the military said, and Palestinian health officials said six Palestinians were killed in the strike.
An Israeli border police officer was killed and others wounded when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device during operations in the West Bank city of Jenin, the military and police said.
The West Bank had already seen its highest levels of unrest in decades during the 18 months before the Oct 7 attack on Israel by the militant Hamas group that rules Gaza. Confrontations in the West Bank have risen sharply since Israeli forces launched their retaliatory offensive on Gaza, laying waste to the Palestinian enclave as they seek to wipe out Hamas.
In the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers and settlers over the past weeks and security forces have made thousands of arrests.
Blinken presses Arab states
to discuss Gaza future
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to push Israel's Arab neighbours on Sunday to play a future role in running Gaza, even as he aims to quell tensions beyond Israel's offensive against Palestinian Hamas militants in the strip.
Blinken arrived in Jordan late on Saturday and met King Abdullah on Sunday before he was set to visit Qatar and end the day in the United Arab Emirates.
Blinken would use the visits to press hesitant Muslim nations to prepare to play a role in the reconstruction, governance and security of Gaza if and when Israel achieves its goal of eliminating Hamas, a senior State Department official travelling with the Biden administration's top diplomat said.
The US delegation would gather Arab states' input on the sensitive issue of the future of Gaza before taking those positions to Israel in the coming days, the official said, acknowledging that there would be a significant gap between the different parties' vision for the strip.
Hamas command in north
Gaza destroyed: Israel
The Israeli army says it has "completed the dismantling" of Hamas's command structure in the northern Gaza Strip. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that Palestinian militants are now operating in the area only sporadically and "without commanders".
He said Israel had killed around 8,000 militants in north Gaza. The BBC cannot independently verify this number. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are now focused on dismantling Hamas in south and central Gaza, he said.
Israel has killed more than 22,000 people since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. On Saturday it said it had recorded more than 120 deaths over the past 24 hours.