A picture taken from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke rising over buildings in Khan Yunis in the distance, following Israeli bombardment on Feb 5, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)
JERUSALEM//RAMALLAH/RIYADH/BEIRUT - Israel has resumed battles in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday amid growing international calls for a ceasefire.
In its latest operational update, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that its troops have returned to areas where they previously operated.
Over the past few weeks, attacks in the north of the strip have decreased following Israel's assertion of gaining control over the area, fostering hopes that displaced civilians could return to their homes -- a prospect the Israeli army has indicated that it will not permit at this stage.
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"The forces operating under the division are preventing Hamas from rebuilding its capabilities," Itzik Cohen, the commander of IDF's 162nd Division, said in the update, stressing the forces were "intensifying operations against and pressure on Hamas remaining in the area".
On Monday morning, a food aid convoy was struck by Israeli gunfire while waiting to move into northern Gaza, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Israeli bombardment persisted throughout the enclave, including in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Over the weekend, at least 20 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Rafah, a city previously designated as a safe zone by the Israeli army. More than half of Gaza's over 2 million population have fled to Rafah, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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At least 133 Palestinians were killed and 205 injured in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Health Ministry reported earlier Monday.
The ministry said more than 27,478 Palestinians have been killed and 66,835 others injured from the Israeli attacks on Gaza, which were triggered by a surprise Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, that Israel said killed about 1,200 people.
On Monday morning, a food aid convoy was struck by Israeli gunfire while waiting to move into northern Gaza, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Palestinians look at a residential house destroyed in an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Feb 5, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)
"Thankfully, no one was injured," Tom White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, wrote in a post on the social media platform X. Photos circulating on X showed that damage was caused to the shipping.
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An Israeli security source told Xinhua that the army was checking the report without providing more information.
Also on Monday, speaking at a press conference during his first official visit to Israel, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne called on the Israeli government to facilitate an "immediate ceasefire" and a "massive influx" of aid into Gaza.
As Qatari, Egyptian, and US mediators were waiting for a reply from Hamas to a ceasefire offer, which includes hostage release, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his right-wing Likud party that the war is not near ending.
"Our goal is a complete victory over Hamas. We will kill the Hamas leadership. Therefore, we must continue to act in all areas of the Gaza Strip," he said.
The Palestinian presidency urged the United States to establish a clear mechanism and commit to specific steps and international guarantees within a specific time frame to recognize the Palestinian state
Palestine calls on US to stop Israel
The Palestinian presidency on Monday called on the United States to force Israel to stop its "aggression and war" against the besieged coastal enclave of the Gaza Strip.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesperson of the Palestinian presidency, said in a press statement that the United States must "pressure Israel to stop its war in Gaza" to prevent the conflict from further affecting regional security.
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Countries around the world should adopt practical and quick steps to save the region from the mire of the Gaza conflict, he noted.
The steps must be taken under resolutions affirming the international legitimacy to end Israel's occupation and establish the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders, Aby Rudeineh added.
He urged the United States to establish a clear mechanism and commit to specific steps and international guarantees within a specific time frame to recognize the Palestinian state.
A picture taken from a position in southern Israel along the border with the Gaza Strip on Feb 5, 2024, shows an Israeli tank rolling. (PHOTO / AFP)
"The positive statements alone are no longer enough, and this is the appropriate and decisive moment to spare the region from the scourge of endless wars," the spokesperson said.
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Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye rejected an Israeli proposal to relocate the Rafah border crossing, the only crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
During a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah, Ishtaye said Israel "is trying to move the Rafah crossing to another place".
He said the Rafah crossing was the "gateway to the Palestinian-Egyptian border, and it is an Egyptian-Palestinian affair".
His remark came after Israeli media outlets reported that Israel, the United States and Egypt were discussing moving the Rafah crossing to the Kerem Shalom area.
The Rafah border crossing, crucial for evacuations and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, has become a life passage for the Gazans trapped in the besieged enclave as the Hamas-Israel conflict continues.
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Ishtaye also said that "the crimes in Gaza have entered their fifth month, and the killing has not stopped, and the number of victims, including deaths, missing persons and wounded, has reached tens of thousands, most of whom are children, women and the elderly".
Also on Monday, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud met with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The two sides reviewed regional developments and bilateral relations.
Saudi Arabia is the first stop of Blinken's fifth tour in the region since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct 7, 2023, which has led to escalating tensions across the region.
Blinken will also visit Israel, Egypt, Qatar, and the West Bank in his regional tour.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb 5, 2024. (PHOTO / POOL VIA AP)
Border clashes continue
In Lebanon, an Israeli warplane bombed a house in a southern village Monday afternoon, killing three members of Lebanon's Shiite Amal Movement and injuring two civilians, Lebanese medical and security sources told Xinhua.
Official sources in the Civil Defense and the Muslim Scout Association said the airstrike hit the village of Bayt Lif, adding rescue workers and ambulances rushed to the scene to remove the rubble and transport the casualties to a nearby hospital.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said around 100,000 people have been displaced by the ongoing border tensions with Israel, adding that the people are "in dire need of care and assistance"
Medical sources noted that two of the ambulances were damaged by shrapnel in an Israel raid targeting another Lebanese village of al-Jibbine.
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Meanwhile, unnamed Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that the Israeli military carried out 14 airstrikes targeting western and central sectors of southern Lebanon and fired about 100 shells at 18 towns and villages in the area.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib urged international support for people who were displaced by the border tensions.
Bou Habib made the appeal during his meeting with Kate Forbes, the president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
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The minister said around 100,000 people have been displaced and "in dire need of care and assistance", adding all the support and assistance provided by the International Red Cross are welcomed.
The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing increased tension since Oct 8, 2023, after Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attack on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have so far killed 250 people on the Lebanese side.
