Israel’s defense minister issued a warning Wednesday that retaliation by his country for a recent Iranian missile attack will be “surprising” and “lethal.” At the same time, the Israeli military pushed forward with a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants and a large-scale operation in northern Gaza.
On the diplomatic front, President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held their first call in seven weeks, with a press secretary from the White House saying the call included discussions on Israel’s deliberations about its response to Iran’s attack.
The continuous cycle of death and destruction in Gaza, unleashed by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, comes as Israel expands a weeklong ground offensive targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon and considers a substantial retaliatory strike on Iran after Iran’s October 7 barrage of missiles.
“Our strike will be lethal, precise, and above all, surprising. They won’t understand what happened and how. They will see the results,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a speech to troops. “Whoever strikes us will be harmed and pay a price.”
Iran fired dozens of missiles on October 1 at Israel — which the U.S. helped fend off.
President Joe Biden said he wouldn’t support a retaliatory strike on locations related to Iran’s nuclear program.
Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack that killed two individuals in Kiryat Shmona, a northern Israeli town. Ofir Yehezkeli, the town’s acting mayor, said the two killed were a couple out walking their dogs.
There was heavy fighting in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, an urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel, where Israeli forces conducted several significant operations throughout the war and then returned as militants worked to regroup. The whole north, including Gaza City, has suffered considerable destruction and has been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late 2023.
In Gaza, residents of Jabaliya said thousands have been trapped in their homes since the operation started Sunday, as Israeli drones and jets buzz overhead and the troops battle militants in the streets.
“It’s like hell. We can’t get out,” said Mohamed Awda, who lives with his six siblings and parents. He noted three bodies in the street outside his home couldn’t be retrieved due to the fighting.
“The quadcopters are everywhere, and they fire at anyone. You can’t even open the window,” said Awda, by phone, speaking over the sound of explosions.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said from Sunday to Tuesday, it recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya, with another from communities further north. There are likely additional bodies under rubble and in other areas in areas that are inaccessible, it said.
Residents of Jabaliya fear Israel aims to depopulate the north, turning it into a Jewish settlement or closed military zone. Israel has blocked all roads except the main roadway leading to the south from Jabaliya, residents say.
“People here say clearly that they will die here in northern Gaza and won’t go to southern Gaza,” said Ahmed Qamar, who resides in Jabaliya with his parents, wife, and children, in a text message.
Director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, Fadel Naeem, said it had received dozens of bodies and wounded people from the north. “We declared a state of emergency, suspended scheduled surgeries, and discharged patients whose conditions are stable,” she told the AP via text message.
The offensive by Israel has gutted the health sector in Gaza, forcing the majority of hospitals to shut down and leaving the remainder only functioning partially.
Naeem stated three hospitals further north — Awda, Kamal Adwan, and the Indonesian Hospital — have become nearly inaccessible because of the fighting. The Gaza Health Ministry says the Israeli army has ordered all three to evacuate patients and staff. In the meantime, no humanitarian aid has entered the north since October 1, according to U.N. data.
The authority of Israel coordinating humanitarian efforts in Palestinian territories said Israel “has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip.”
Israel maintains it only targets militants and blames the deaths of citizens on Hamas
Israel stated it only targets the militants and blamed the deaths of civilians on Hamas because it fights in residential areas.
Israel ordered the sweeping evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in the opening weeks of the war. However, hundreds of thousands of individuals are believed to have remained there. Israel emphasized those instructions over the weekend and told people to flee to the south to a humanitarian zone where hundreds of thousands are crammed already into squalid tent camps.
The war started just over a year ago when militants led by Hamas stormed into southern Israel, murdering some 1,200 individuals, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. They continue to hold 100 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be deceased.
Israel’s offensive killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many of those killed were fighters. It has been stated children and women comprise half of the dead. The offensive has additionally caused staggering destruction across the territory, displacing about 90% of the population of 2.3 million people, often several times.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of all of the hostages.
Tuesday, Netanyahu stated Lebanon would suffer the same fate as Gaza if its people didn’t arise and confront Hezbollah.
Recently, Israel has waged a heavy air campaign across significant parts of Lebanon, targeting what it states are Hezbollah rocket launchers and other militant sites. A series of strikes had Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader, and most of his top commanders.
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike hit a Lebanese Civil Defense center in the town of Dardghaya in southern Lebanon, killing five members stationed there, Elie Khairallah, defense spokesperson, told the Associated Press. Among the victims was the head of the Tyere Regional Center in the Lebanese Civil Defense, Abdullah Al-Moussawi, said Khairallah.
Only last week, Al-Moussawi spoke with the AP, saying the Israeli airstrikes had made his team progressively nervous but that they were hopeful that the international protection guaranteed to medics would be extended to them also.
As of last Thursday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported over 100 paramedics have been killed by airstrikes.
Another Wednesday strike killed four people, wounding another ten at a hotel sheltering people who were displaced in Wardaniyeh, the southern Lebanese town, said Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
An AP reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms from Israeli jets prior to the strike. Smoke plumes rose from the building following the explosion.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said Hezbollah has fired over 12,000 rockets, drones, and missiles at Israel in the past year.
Video the AP verified additionally shows what appears to be a group of Israeli soldiers raising an Israeli flag in a southern Lebanon village.
In the video, three soldiers are seen raising a flag on top of a debris pile. A soldier from the camera shot speaks in Hebrew and refers to the nearby village of Avivim. It was unknown what date it was filmed.
