According to Defense Minister Gallant, Israeli soldiers have moved into the center of Gaza City. The city is “the largest terrorist base ever built in the world.” Meanwhile, in Israel, the victims of Hamas terror were remembered.
A month after the radical Islamic Hamas attack on Israel, the Israeli army advanced into the center of Gaza City. “We are in the heart of the city of Gaza,” Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Gallant said during a televised news conference. The city is “the largest terrorist base ever built in the world.”
Gallant said the most senior Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was trapped in his bunker. “Israeli forces came from the north and south. They stormed the bunker in a joint operation of land, air and sea forces,” said the minister. The aim is to hit the infrastructure of the Hamas terrorists, their commanders, bunkers and communication rooms. “The troops are tightening the noose around Gaza City.”
In the evening, Hamas fired rockets at the center of Israel. Warning sirens also sounded several times in the greater Tel Aviv area. Hamas’s military wing claimed responsibility for the attacks on Telegram. According to initial findings, no one was injured, according to paramedics.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Netanyahu expects a long-term presence in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was preparing to take control of the Palestinian coastal strip after the Gaza war. Israel will have to guarantee security in the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period of time, he told the US broadcaster ABC.
In the television interview, Netanyahu again rejected a ceasefire, but signaled his willingness to hold shorter ceasefires in order to provide the people in the Gaza Strip with the essentials. A real ceasefire would only be possible if Hamas released the kidnapped hostages. Otherwise there will be no delivery of fuel to the area and no Palestinian workers allowed in Israel.
USA vs Reoccupation of the Gaza Strip
The USA spoke out against another long-term occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel. “In general, we do not support the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip,” said a US State Department spokesman, Vedant Patel. “We believe that Palestinians must be at the forefront of these decisions and that the Gaza Strip is and will remain Palestinian land.”
At the same time, Patel emphasized that after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, there could be “no return to the status quo” in the Gaza Strip. “Israel and the region must be safe, and the Gaza Strip should not and cannot continue to serve as a base for terrorist attacks against the Israeli people or anyone else.”
People remember the victims of Hamas terror at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Commemoration after Hamas terrorist attack
Memorial events for the victims of the October 7 attacks were held throughout the day in Israel. Flags flew at half-mast and people prayed together in front of the Western Wall. Relatives of hostages demonstrated in front of the Israeli parliament with signs saying: “Don’t abandon the prisoners!”
Hundreds of Hamas fighters crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7 and committed atrocities against civilians in attacks on several towns and a music festival. According to Israel, around 1,400 people were killed and more than 240 people were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in the worst attack in the country’s history.
With information from Bettina Meier, ARD Tel Aviv