Keystone-SDA
Israeli chief of staff Eyal Zamir approved a new military operations plan in Gaza, the army announced on Wednesday. No details have been given on the calendar, but the offensive aims to release the hostages and inflict a defeat in Hamas.
(Keystone-ATS) According to an official press release, the plan was validated at a strategic meeting led by the army. It is the next step in Israeli operations in the Palestinian enclave.
Eliminate the grip of Hamas in Gaza
This deployment is part of the directives of the military cabinet of Benjamin Netanyahu. The declared objective remains the release of all hostages and the elimination of the grip of Hamas in Gaza.
The army intends in particular to take control of the city of Gaza as well as neighboring refugee camps. These areas, among the most densely populated in the territory, are already devastated by more than 22 months of war.
During discussions on Wednesday, “the actions carried out by the army so far were presented, in particular the strike in the Zeitoun area which started yesterday Tuesday,” added the press release.
The Zeitoun district, in the city of Gaza, has been the target of many air bombings in the past three days, according to testimonies from the inhabitants, which have also reported bombing in the neighboring district of Tel Al-Hawa.
“70 to 75%” of the Gaza strip militarily controlled
Benjamin Netanyahu had claimed on Sunday that Israel militarily controlled “70 to 75%” of the Gaza Strip and that it remained to take the city of Gaza as well as sectors of the center of the Palestinian territory.
The plan “does not aim to occupy Gaza, but to demilitarize it,” he said, listing the objectives of Israel: “First, disarm Hamas. Second, all hostages are released. Third, Gaza is demilitarized. Fourth, Israel exercises preponderant security control. And fifth, a non -Israeli peaceful civil administration ”.
The attack on Hamas which sparked the war on October 7, 2023 led to the Israeli side the death of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official data.
Israeli reprisals in Gaza left 61,599 dead, mainly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, deemed reliable by Uugaza