Hand-to-hand clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas in northern Gaza

Intense clashes took place this Tuesday between Israeli ground forces and militiamen from the al-Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist group Hamas, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

According to Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari, “right now” soldiers are fighting “fierce hand-to-hand battles where they are eliminating terrorists” in Gaza.

In a press conference, Hagari acknowledged that “this type of combat endangers our forces and entails a high price, and is complex but critical” for which he called for “resilience and patience.”

In recent hours, combined Israeli forces attacked a Hamas post in the northern Gaza Strip and killed dozens of terrorists, attacked anti-tank missile launch cells and anti-tank missile launch and observation posts, and confiscated numerous weapons, including guns and explosive devices.

For their part, the al Qasam Brigades indicated on their social networks that today there are clashes in the northwest of Gaza, where two Israeli armored cars have been attacked with rockets.

Likewise, in the north of the Strip, in the Al Tauam area, they opened fire on Israeli vehicles in an ambush.

This information could not be independently verified due to the restrictions that both parties impose on journalists’ access to the area.

The Israeli Army attacks 300 targets in Gaza

Hours before the military spokesperson’s appearance before the press, the Israeli Army reported in a statement that its troops attacked some 300 targets in the Gaza Strip this morning, including underground military complexes of the Islamist group Hamas, which de facto controls the enclave. .

In the note, the military command stated that “during the ground operations, the soldiers had several confrontations with terrorist cells that fired anti-tank missiles and machine guns at them.”

According to the Israeli report, its troops “killed the terrorists and directed the Air Force to attack terrorist targets and infrastructure in real time.”

In addition, the Army announced that its fighter jets bombed the command center of the Beit Lahia Battalion, in northern Gaza, and killed Nasim Abu Ajina, one of the commanders of the Hamas attack against Israeli territory on October 7. , also responsible for the Islamist group’s aerial apparatus, including the manufacture of drones.

Gaza is a “children’s cemetery” according to Unicef

But today, the majority of the victims of this conflict are civilians.

Israel’s attacks against the Gaza Strip cause the death of 420 Palestinian children every day, who are paying the highest human cost of the war in this enclave, with 3,747 minors murdered so far, in addition to 940 missing, according to reports today UNICEF.

“Gaza has become a cemetery for thousands of children and a hell for everyone else,” said the spokesman for the United Nations agency dedicated to child protection, James Elder.

Specifically, according to the UN, 70% of Palestinian civilian victims of the war between Israel and Hamas are women and children.

For his part, the spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health today raised the number of victims in the Gaza Strip to 8,525 dead and 21,543 injured.

In a televised intervention, Ashraf Al Qudra indicated that there were also 2,000 missing under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombings, more than half of them children.

This same Monday, 26 people died in a bombing that destroyed a wedding hall in the intermediate region between the south and north of the Gaza Strip (the latter under an evacuation order from Israel), where many displaced people had sought refuge.

Regarding the situation in the hospitals, the Gatza spokesman has warned that “the countdown has begun so that the main generators of Al Shifa and Indonesian stop working.”

According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 15 hospitals are already out of service due to shelling and lack of fuel, and 32 primary care centers have stopped functioning.

Al Qudra reiterated this Tuesday its daily call to Egypt to open the Rafah crossing, the only exit to the outside of Gaza, and allow aid to enter the Palestinian enclave and the evacuation of the wounded and sick.

Israel announces the entry of the largest aid convoy into Gaza

A total of 26 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza this Monday through Rafah, the border crossing with Egypt, but the UN has noted that although the amount of life-saving assistance that has entered in the last two days has increased, it is still very insufficient given the seriousness of the humanitarian situation.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that a convoy of 80 trucks will enter the Gaza Strip this Tuesday, the largest since the start of the war.

According to the Ministry, the trucks carry medical supplies, food and water.

Between last October 17 and yesterday, Monday, Israel has allowed the entry of 144 trucks with aid, according to data from the Palestinian Red Crescent.

However, this assistance is scarce if one takes into account that before the beginning of the conflict, about 500 trucks entered the Strip daily.

Israel intercepts a missile launched from the Red Sea

On the other hand, the Israeli Army reported this Tuesday that its air defense systems intercepted a surface-to-surface missile that was fired towards its territory from the Red Sea area, in the second incident of the day in that region.

According to a statement, the missile was intercepted by the Arrow air defense system, in the first use of this sophisticated anti-aircraft system since the start of the war with the Islamist group Hamas on October 7.

Hours earlier, Israeli Air Force fighter jets had been deployed in response to an aerial threat identified in the Red Sea area, which caused anti-aircraft alarms to be activated in the Israeli city of Eilat.

That first attack today, local media reported, was claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who confirmed a drone attack.

These episodes occur days after Israel reported on Friday that “missiles and drones” launched by the Houthis against its territory hit two tourist towns in Egypt near the border, in an incident that according to Egyptian authorities caused at least six injuries. .

The spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Lior Haiat, stated on social media that the Houthis “are representatives of the terrorist regime” in Iran, a country he blamed for “controlling” the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and the Palestinian militias Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The Yemeni Houthis have warned on several occasions that “they will not sit idly by in the face of the genocidal war” in Gaza, warning that “crossing red lines forces Yemen to fulfill its religious and principled duty.” With EFE

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