The war has driven nearly all Gazans from their homes,some of them several times,and caused a humanitarian crisis,with food,fuel and medical supplies running low.
Under US pressure to reduce civilian casualties,Israel had said it was transitioning from a full-scale ground assault to targeted operations against the Hamas militants that control the enclave.
Israeli Iron Dome air defence system fires to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip,in Ashkelon.Credit:AP
It began that shift with a pullback in the north. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also said on Monday that the more recent ground assault in the south was drawing to a close.
But any path toward de-escalating the war still seems remote,with Israel saying it will not rest until Hamas is destroyed,and the militants showing no sign of losing the ability to resist.
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Israel Ziv,a retired general who formerly commanded Israeli forces in Gaza,told Reuters that 10-15 per cent of Hamas’ prewar rocketry corps of about 1000 personnel were believed to be still alive,with about 2000 rockets left to be fired.
However,Ziv said,Israeli forces had by now established “extensive control” in Gaza,meaning they could “manoeuvre freely”,except in Rafah,Deir al-Balah and Nusseirat,the launch point of the latest’s rocket salvo.
Change of plans
Some of the hundreds of thousands of residents who fled the north earlier in the war had begun returning last week to bombed-out areas where the Israelis had withdrawn. But residents who spoke to Reuters said the abrupt resurgence of fighting in the north would now halt their plans.
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“We almost planned to return to our house in Nazla,east of Jabalia,but thank God we didn’t. This morning people living nearby arrived here and told us the tanks pushed back there,” said Abu Khaled,43,a father-of-three now living with relatives in severely damaged Gaza City.
“The sounds of bombing from the tanks,from the planes didn’t stop all night. It reminded us of the first day of the ground incursion.”
In the Gaza City suburb of Al-Nafaq in the north,rescuers recovered 20 bodies from a residential building hit by Israel on Tuesday,the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said.
Israeli forces have fought their way to the centre of Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Younis,and into towns north and east of the central city of Deir al-Balah.
The Gaza war has inflamed tensions across the region,including in the Red Sea,where the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls most of Yemen has been attacking commercial ships.
The route is used by 15 per cent of world shipping. The group says it is targeting vessels linked to Israel in solidarity with Gaza.
The US and Britain have responded by bombingHouthi targets in Yemen to prevent what they called a threat to global commerce. The US military on Tuesday carried out a new strike against four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles as they were being readied for more attacks,two US officials told Reuters.
Reuters,AP
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