01/21/2024 7:54 pm (current 01/21/2024 8:00 pm)
Smoke over Khan Younis after Israeli bombing ©APA/AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has categorically ruled out the release of Israeli hostages on Islamic Hamas terms. He said in a video message released on Sunday that he was working “24 hours a day” to free the more than 130 hostages held by Hamas. “But let us be clear: I reject in the strongest possible terms the surrender terms of the Hamas monsters,” he added.
In exchange for the release of the hostages, Hamas would demand an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the continuation of its government power in the coastal strip. It would also call for the release of the “murderers and rapists” captured by Israel following the brutal October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas and other extremist groups. “I am not prepared to accept such a deadly blow to Israel’s security,” he said.
Netanyahu made the comments after Hamas first commented on its brutal attack on Israel on October 7. The terrorist organization spoke of a “necessary step” and a “normal response”, but at the same time admitted that “some mistakes may have been made” at the time. At the same time, Hamas claimed, against all evidence, that it had not committed any targeted killings of civilians. Instead, the Israeli army and police killed many Israelis “because of their confusion.” In fact, Hamas butchers not only murdered numerous civilians, they also cut off their limbs. During interrogations, the attackers also stated that they had been tasked with raping women.
The Israeli army reported successes in the fight against Hamas on Sunday. Dozens of terrorists were killed and a large quantity of weapons were found during operations in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday. Among other things, the Navy attacked a building from where armed Palestinian troops had attacked. The statement states that the threat has been “eliminated”.
“Israeli soldiers eliminated 15 terrorists in Daraj-Tuffah, in the north of the Gaza Strip,” the army said. Uniforms and several weapons were found in a building belonging to the Palestinian Islamic militant organization Hamas. In the city of Khan Younis, in the south of the Palestinian territory, where Israel has increased military pressure on Hamas in recent weeks, snipers with air support “eliminated several terrorists”. A journalist from the AFP news agency reported bombings, airstrikes and tank operations, especially in Khan Younis, the largest city in the southern Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army also reported the discovery of a tunnel where hostages may have been accommodated. The Israeli army also said it had discovered a tunnel in Khan Younis with “evidence of the presence of hostages”. Thus, there were also drawings of a five-year-old prisoner. According to the Israeli military, “around 20 hostages” were locked inside the house at various times “without daylight” and with “little oxygen and terrible humidity”.
According to eyewitnesses, the Israeli navy also bombed the city of Gaza. Consequently, the Israeli armed forces also resumed attacks in the area around the Jabalya refugee settlement. Hamas said it would engage in heavy fighting with the Israeli army in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli army, Hamas holds the body of a soldier who died in the major attack on Israel in October, in the Gaza Strip. Corporal Shay Levinson, 19, was killed on October 7 and “his body is in the hands of Hamas,” the army said on Sunday. Levinson lived in the city of Giv'at Avni in northern Israel and served in a combat unit.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that, according to US intelligence estimates, Israel has so far only managed to kill 20 to 30 percent of Hamas fighters. This means that Israel is still a long way from its goal of destroying the entire organization. The US assumed that Hamas had enough munitions to continue attacking Israel and Israeli troops in Gaza for months, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed US government officials who confirmed a corresponding intelligence report. Hamas is also trying to rebuild its police forces in parts of Gaza City.
The US government has therefore lowered its expectations regarding the war's objectives, from destroying Hamas to weakening the security threat. Hamas' goal is simply to survive the war. According to US estimates, Hamas had between 25,000 and 30,000 fighters before the war, in addition to thousands of police forces.
Israel claims to presume that around 9,000 terrorists have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far. The Gaza war was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 in southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 hostages were kidnapped. Israel responded to the worst massacre in its history with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, more than 25,105 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest figures from the Hamas-controlled health authority. More than 62,680 people were injured, it said in a statement on Sunday. In 24 hours, 178 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the coastal strip. No distinction is made between civilians and combatants. Around 70 percent of those killed were women and minors. The numbers cannot be independently verified.
According to the military, 195 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip at the end of October. More than 1,200 other people were injured. Since October 7, 531 soldiers have been killed.
Since the start of the war, tensions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have also increased. The Israeli army said it demolished two houses in the southern West Bank city of Hebron belonging to two Palestinian militants who carried out an attack in November that left three people dead on the western outskirts of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the West Bank city of Maithalun, south of Jenin, as well as in the cities of Arura and Qalqilya.