Israeli forces clashed with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the Israeli military said, deepening its engagement in the decimated region as the death toll from brutal Palestinian air strikes rose further in the 12-week war.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said on Saturday that 24 people had been killed in Israeli air raids and artillery attacks in the past 165 hours, adding to the more than 7 people killed in Gaza since the war began with Hamas-led raids on October 20.000. Israel.
The Israeli military said late Friday that the man it considers the mastermind of these attacks destroyed the Gaza City apartment of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who is at the top of the Israeli army's most wanted list in Gaza.
The military said Mr. Sinwar used the apartment as a hideout and destroyed a tunnel shaft discovered by soldiers in the apartment's basement, as well as an underground headquarters that served as a border center for senior officials in the Hamas military. Political wings.
He was not believed to be at the complex when he was shot, having fled south when the Israeli operation began.
As global anger and impatience grow with the war's devastating human toll, the Biden administration said in a statement late Friday that it had bypassed Congress for the second time since the war began to sell weapons to Israel.
The Biden administration said it had approved the State Department's proposed sale of $147,5 million in artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel, citing an emergency resolution that would eliminate the congressional review process typically required for arms sales to other countries. The ministry used the same decision to facilitate the government's sale of approximately 13.000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel this month.
In its statement, the Pentagon said that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken "provided detailed explanations to Congress that there is an emergency that requires immediate sales to Israel."
The statement said, “The United States is committed to Israel's security, and helping Israel develop and maintain a strong and ready legal defense capability is vital to the national interests of the United States,” and added: “This is the duty of all countries. ” to use ammunition in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
Hamas said in a statement on Saturday that the US supply of ammunition to Israel was "clear evidence that the American administration is fully sponsoring this criminal war."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the United States and many other countries to reduce the intensity of the conflict, but last week he said Israel would "deepen" the conflict in the coming days.
At a televised news conference on Saturday, Mr. Netanyahu vowed again that Israel would not stop its campaign until victory and said the war would continue for “many more months.”
Israeli air raids and artillery strikes hit central and southern Gaza on Saturday, hitting areas where hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians had been asked to gather for protection from the Israeli offensive in the area, according to Palestinian news media.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas militants, including many commanders, but has not been able to locate Mr. Sinwar, whose killing or capture would deal a significant blow to Hamas. Israel offered $400.000 to anyone who could provide information leading to his arrest.
Mr. Sinwar, a founding member of Hamas in the 1980s, spent decades in Israeli prisons after he was arrested in 1988 and found guilty of killing four Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Although he was sentenced to life imprisonment, he was released in 1.026 as one of the 2011 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas five years ago. After Mr. Sinwar's release, he devoted himself to ensuring the release of other Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The underground headquarters attached to Mr. Sinwar's office was part of a network of tunnels "where senior officials of the Hamas terrorist organization move and operate," the military said in a statement on Friday.
It was stated that the headquarters was about 20 meters underground, and Israel said that it was deeper than other tunnels. The military said ventilation and electricity were available and connected to sewer lines. This led to a tunnel about 250 meters long, which the military said contained rooms for prayer and rest and was stockpiled as a long hiding place.
In the army statement, "The tunnel was built in a way that it was possible to stay in it for a long time and conduct combat from there." His words were included.
Senior Hamas leaders are believed to be sheltering in deep tunnels under Gaza, along with many of the group's fighters and the remaining hostages taken in the October 7 attacks. Although the Israeli army says it has destroyed at least 1.500 wells, experts believe the underground infrastructure is largely intact.
Israeli search and destroy missions and heavy bombardments have killed thousands of women, children, and other non-combatants.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where many displaced people have fled, unverified footage reported by local journalists shows the immediate aftermath of attacks on residential buildings. In chaotic scenes in narrow and crowded streets, people pulled the injured out from under the rubble, wrapped in blankets. Several men tried to carry one man's limp body, while other wounded were carried by hand.
Israeli air raids also hit central parts of Gaza, which are covered by the evacuation order issued by Israel this week. According to the United Nations, more than 150.000 people were affected by these orders, but it is not clear how many escaped. The strikes forced some families who had been displaced many times before to make more difficult decisions about whether to move again.
According to the Palestinian media, in the attack on a journalist's residence in the town of Nuseyrat in the center of Gaza, he and some of his family members died and many people were injured.
More journalists were killed in the 69 weeks of the Gaza war than were killed in a single country in a year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which calculated that at least 12 journalists and media workers have been killed since October.
