Israel says war in Gaza expected to continue throughout 2024

[CharlieH]

 

The Israeli military has said it expects the conflict in Gaza to continue throughout 2024.

In a new year's message, Israel Defence Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said troop deployments were being adjusted to prepare for "prolonged fighting".

He said some troops - especially reservists - would be withdrawn to allow them to regroup.

"These adaptations are intended to ensure the planning and preparation for continuing the war in 2024," he said.

"The IDF must plan ahead out of an understanding that there will be additional missions and the fighting will continue the rest of the year."

He said that some reservists would leave Gaza "as soon as this week" to allow them to "re-energise ahead of the coming operations".

 

More than 21,800 people have been killed in Gaza - mostly children and women - during 11 weeks of fighting, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The latest war was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed - most of them civilians - and about 240 others taken hostage.

• Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza?
• What Gaza's death toll says about the war

Israel continued its bombardment of Gaza up until the end of what has been dark year in the region.

At least 48 Palestinians were killed in overnight bombing in Gaza City on Sunday, the health ministry in Gaza said, with many still buried under the rubble.

Another strike killed 20 people sheltering at Al-Aqsa University in the west of Gaza City, witnesses told the AFP news agency. The BBC has not been able to verify the latest reports.

 

FULL STORY

 

[Morch]

As 2024 begins, IDF releases 5 brigades from Gaza, but says fighting likely all year

https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-2024-begins-idf-releases-5-brigades-from-gaza-but-says-fighting-likely-all-year/

 

Guess it's another way to say operations will be toning down some.

[Neeranam]

7 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

At least 48 Palestinians were killed in overnight bombing in Gaza City on Sunday, the health ministry in Gaza said

 

Any idea how many were civilians? 

 

At least 100 people were killed and 286 wounded in Israeli attacks on homes in central Gaza in the past 24 hours, the health ministry says.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/12/31/israel-hamas-war-live-destroyed-homes-leave-1-5-million-homeless-in-gaza

[Bkk Brian]

Radwan quite the neighborhood for terrorists, 37 buildings within the civilian population

 

IDF captures Hamas stronghold in heart of residential neighborhood in Gaza City

Hamas’s so-called Eastern Outpost is made up of 37 buildings “in the heart of the civilian population,” surrounded by residential buildings, a school, and a hospital, with a mosque in the complex used as a meeting point for Hamas operatives, according to the IDF.

It says the “strategic” stronghold was used by Hamas’s intelligence division and other units of the terror group to “manage the fighting in the entire Gaza Strip.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-captures-hamas-stronghold-in-heart-of-residential-neighborhood-in-gaza-city/

 

Video of fighting in buildings and tunnels:

 

 

https://twitter.com/manniefabian/status/1742153687110128046

 

[thaibeachlovers]

One wonders how israel is going to pay for more months of war. All the reports I've read about it say israel's economy is in trouble and that after only 3 months.

Given war seems likely on the northern border, that's going to require even more reservists leaving jobs, with everything that means to the economy, and all those reservists have to be paid by government, not employers.

 

If they are saying that it's going to take even longer, it can only be because Hamas is doing a better job of stopping the IDF than expected, and likely many hostages will die in the bombing, which will cause huge domestic trouble for netanyahu.

[Morch]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

One wonders how israel is going to pay for more months of war. All the reports I've read about it say israel's economy is in trouble and that after only 3 months.

Given war seems likely on the northern border, that's going to require even more reservists leaving jobs, with everything that means to the economy, and all those reservists have to be paid by government, not employers.

 

If they are saying that it's going to take even longer, it can only be because Hamas is doing a better job of stopping the IDF than expected, and likely many hostages will die in the bombing, which will cause huge domestic trouble for netanyahu.

 

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

One wonders if you are unaware wars, in general, cost money and carry effects on economies.

Obviously, in your world, the war is only happening on one side - did you give a thought as to how Hamas, the PA, the Palestinians, Gazans will sort their economic issues post-war?

[Bkk Brian]

A couple of updates, more in the links

 

Key quotes from tonight’s (Saturday) briefing by IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, marking three months into the war:

“We have completed the dismantling of Hamas' military framework in the northern Gaza Strip and will continue to deepen the achievement, strengthening the barrier and the defense components along the security fence. Now, we are focusing on dismantling Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip. We will do this differently, thoroughly, based on the lessons we have learned from the fighting so far.” 1/3

 

The IDF releases new footage of the elite Egoz commando unit operating in southern Gaza, where it says troops raided the home of Hamas’s east Khan Younis battalion commander and battled gunmen in a school.

In the town of Bani Suheila on the outskirts of Khan Younis, Egoz troops raided a school where Hamas operatives were holed up.

The IDF says the troops killed three gunmen during a battle in the school. On their bodies, it says forces found RPGs and “a lot of intelligence information” about Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade.

In a residential home in the area, Egoz soldiers found a cache of weapons used by Hamas operatives, the IDF says.

The IDF does not elaborate further on the raid on the home of the Hamas commander.