Israel is preparing for an even more devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip after a ceasefire, as the US urges restraint and aid groups warn the consequences for civilians could be catastrophic.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a long-term ceasefire on Wednesday, saying the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would resume operations after the ceasefire with the goal of “destroying Hamas.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers on Monday that “there will be more strength” when the IDF resumes operations that will “take place on the other side of Gaza.” “We will use the same amount of electricity and even more.”
Israeli commanders said operations were shifting south after the army took control of northern parts of the Gaza Strip following brutal bombing.
The IDF distributed leaflets in the largest southern city of Khan Yunis, urging residents to flee the planned attack.
The north has been largely depopulated due to widespread destruction, according to the Red Cross. Today, 1.7 million of the 2.3 million inhabitants live in the south. Aid agencies report shortages of food, water and medicine, as well as an increase in infectious diseases, although assistance increased during the prisoner exchange.
US officials called on Israel to take measures to protect civilians.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called on Israel to “ensure that when planning operations in the south, it adequately takes into account the additional innocent lives now being lost in the southern Gaza Strip.”
The Biden administration also called on Israel to take stricter precautions to prevent civilian casualties and allow increased humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry said more than 10,000 people, including more than 4,000 children, were killed in the first month after Hamas’ Oct. 7 raids, and then said it could no longer count the number of deaths because health facilities were closed.
But international pressure will not limit Israel’s campaign in the Gaza Strip, said Yaakov Amidror, a former IDF general and Netanyahu’s national security adviser.
“The sentiment in Israel is very clear and strong regarding the resumption and expansion of the war,” he said. I. “There will be more forces in more areas.”
General Amidror said the IDF would have many new targets in the south after capturing and interrogating Hamas fighters during the ground invasion, and that they expected “intense” aerial bombardment of southern areas.
The election campaign in the south will look the same as in the north, he added. About half the buildings in northern Gaza have been destroyed, according to a recent study of satellite imagery.
The main goals were “to destroy Hamas’ infrastructure and kill its leaders,” he said, declaring the group largely neutralized in the north. The goals are realistic but may take more than a year to achieve, he added.
Yoni Ben-Menahem, an Israeli military analyst, said there was consensus in Israel’s military cabinet that Hamas must be completely destroyed throughout the Gaza Strip, despite international criticism over the high number of civilian casualties.
Netanyahu is under pressure from the US to limit operations in the south and from his ruling coalition not to make any compromises.
“I think he will listen more to the coalition – he wants to stay in power,” Ben-Menahem said.
Israel is urging civilians to flee to a “safe zone” in the coastal town of Al-Mawasi. But the UN and aid groups say the roughly five square kilometer area cannot accommodate hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Some Israeli lawmakers are proposing that Palestinian citizens go to other countries, such as neighboring Egypt. MP Simcha Rothman of the far-right Religious Zionism alliance told the BBC that refugees in Gaza should be resettled abroad.
Humanitarian organizations working in the Gaza Strip also fear the bomb could worsen the humanitarian crisis in the south.
Says Ayed Abu Ektaish, Program Director, Defense for Children International I “The situation is serious and will deteriorate rapidly if military operations resume.”
In addition to continuing food and water shortages, airstrikes will limit residents’ ability to bury their dead and lead to increased disease, while the destruction of buildings will expose more families to winter cold, he said.
Israel’s creation of a “safe zone” does not reassure local residents, Abu Ektaish said, as Israel has previously bombed areas in the south from which residents have been asked to move. “Anyone can be killed anywhere,” he said.
While most hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip are largely closed due to a lack of resources, most hospitals in the south are still operating. If they were also attacked, many lives would be in danger, the aid worker said.
Khalil Abu Shammala, a media consultant who was displaced from north to south Gaza, said many residents of Khan Younis had received text messages urging them to flee.
Mr Abu Shammala hopes international pressure will force Israel to be more careful in shunning civilians. “No one will be able to find a safe place if there are such massive bombings as before,” he said.
Dr. H.A. Hellyer, a senior fellow in international security at the Royal United Services Institute and a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggested Israel was under increasing pressure to stop the bombing of the Gaza Strip.
“There is growing concern in Washington and London that while they publicly support Israel’s right to self-defense, they question Israel’s leadership in this war,” he said. “These doubts are growing stronger every day, to the point that there are signs that D.C. is trying to stop Israel when it comes to bombing the southern Gaza Strip.”
Israel is “running out of time when it comes to this war,” the doctor said. Heller added. “Unfortunately, I suspect many more civilians will die before the Israelis stop.”
Source: I News
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