Israel target: Gaza tunnel network
UN council sets Sunday meeting after initial truce efforts fail; Biden calls for deescalation of violence
fired artillery and mounted extensive air strikes against a network of Palestinian militant tunnels believed to be used by Hamas operatives on Friday. Rocket barrages against southern Israel, which included artillery and tank fire, quickly followed. The UN Security Council will discuss the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian militants on Sunday, diplomats said.
fired artillery and mounted extensive air strikes on Friday against a network of Palestinian militant tunnels under Gaza that it dubbed “the Metro,” amid persistent rocket attacks on Israeli towns.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesperson, said 160 aircraft as well as artillery and armored units, “not inside the Gaza Strip,” had taken part in what he called the largest operation against this specific target since the fighting began.
“What we were targeting is an elaborate system of tunnels that spans underneath Gaza, mostly in the north but not limited to, and is a network that the operatives of Hamas use in order to move, in order to hide, for cover,” he said in a briefing to foreign reporters.
“We refer to (it) as the Metro,” he said, adding that a final assessment on the outcome of the operation was pending.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday the campaign “will take more time.” Israeli officials said Hamas, Gaza’s most powerful militant group, must be dealt a strong deterring blow before any ceasefire.
US President Joe Biden called on Thursday for a deescalation of the violence, saying he wanted to see a significant reduction in rocket attacks.
No sign of progress
The UN Security Council will publicly discuss the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian militants on Sunday, diplomats said after the United States had objected to a meeting on Friday.
Truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations had yet to deliver a sign of progress.
The Israeli military announced that it was building up forces on the Gaza border, raising speculation about a possible ground invasion, a move that would recall similar incursions during Israel-Gaza wars in 2014 and 2009.
But an invasion looked unlikely, given Israel’s reluctance to risk a sharp increase in military casualties on Hamas turf.
Conricus said that while ground forces had taken part in the 40-minute, predawn offensive, none had crossed into the Gaza Strip, as hostilities entered their fifth day with no sign of abating.
Woman, 3 children dead
Health officials in northern Gaza said a woman and her three children were killed during the Israeli operation and that their bodies were recovered from the rubble of their home.
Rocket barrages against southern Israel swiftly followed the Israeli strikes, which the spokesperson said included artillery and tank fire from inside Israeli territory.
At least 119 have been killed in Gaza, including 31 children and 19 women, and 830 others wounded in the current hostilities, Palestinian medical officials said.
The death toll in Israel stood at eight: a soldier patrolling the Gaza border, six Israeli civilians—including an elderly woman who fell on the way to a shelter on Friday and two children—and an Indian worker, Israeli authorities said.
Violence continued overnight in mixed communities of Arabs and Jews. Over the past several days, synagogues were attacked and fighting broke out on the streets of some towns, prompting Israel’s president to warn of civil war.
The Israeli military has put the number of militants killed in Israeli attacks at between 80 and 90. It said that so far, some 1,800 rockets have been fired at Israel, of which 430 fell short in the Gaza Strip or malfunctioned.