Israel winds down war in the south

UNDER PRESSURE: CIVILIAN DEATHS SOAR IN GAZA We will move to next phase soon – defence minister.

Israel has said its operations against Hamas in southern Gaza will soon enter a less intensive phase, after the militant group’s health ministry reported the death toll in the territory had surpassed 24 000.

More than 100 days into the war, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under intense international pressure to end the fighting as civilian deaths soar and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens.

At the same time, deadly violence in the occupied West Bank, exchanges of fire over Israel’s border with Lebanon and strikes by US forces on Iran-backed Yemeni rebels acting in solidarity with Hamas have all raised fears of an escalation beyond the Gaza Strip.

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday reiterated calls for a stop in the combat, saying: “We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure sufficient aid gets to where it is needed, to facilitate the release of the hostages, to tamp down the flames of wider war – because the longer the conflict in Gaza continues, the greater the risk of escalation and miscalculation.”

Fighting has ravaged Gaza since 7 October, when Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in about 1 140 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also dragged about 250 hostages back to Gaza that day, 132 of whom Israel says are still there, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.

As of Monday evening, at least 24 100 Palestinians had been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry – a figure that represents roughly 1% of the territory’s population.

Hamas’ press office said yesterday that Israeli strikes killed another 78 people overnight.

The Israeli military also announced yesterday the death of one more soldier in Gaza, bringing the total killed since its ground invasion began to 189.

With the army having shifted its focus from Gaza’s devastated north to the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah in recent weeks, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that intense operations would soon be winding down there as well.

“We made it clear the intensive manoeuvring stage would last for about three months,” he said, adding that stage was being reached in the northern Gaza Strip.

“In southern Gaza we will reach this achievement and it will end soon, and in both places... we will move to the next phase.” –