Israel forces are at ‘the height of battle’ says Netanyahu as commanders close in on Hamas bases in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night that his forces were “at the height of the battle” as they moved deeper into Hamas strongholds in Gaza City.

Top commanders of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they surrounded the terrorists as they closed in with tanks, bombers, helicopters, warships and ground troops.

But they encountered strong resistance from Hamas fighters emerging from the “spider’s web” of tunnels located under the enclave nicknamed the “Gaza metro”.

“We have achieved impressive successes and have moved beyond the outskirts of Gaza City,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “We move forward.”

He later told a group of soldiers: “I want to make it clear: nothing will stop us. We will advance and win, and we will do it with the help of God and our heroic soldiers.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City on November 2.

More than 9,000 Palestinians and at least 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian health authorities, since October 7.

People check buildings destroyed during an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 2.

The prime minister also said the government had made no decision regarding the transfer of fuel to Gaza, despite desperate pleas from hospital heads – even urging residents to donate a liter of fuel if they had any.

“We have not made any decision regarding the transfer of fuel. I gave no instructions and the war cabinet did not authorize any decisions,” he told reporters.

Netanyahu’s comments came as Hamas and its ally in Lebanon, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, fired their heaviest barrage of rockets since the start of the war at the border town of Kiryat Shmona, north of Israel, injuring two people.

The intensity of the fighting in Gaza was illustrated by the loss of the highest-ranking Israeli officer so far in the conflict, Lt. Col. Salman Habaka, the 18th soldier to die since the ground operation began. .

Tank commander Colonel Habaka, 33, a member of Israel’s Druze Arab minority, was heavily involved in the fight against the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, which killed 1,400 people. He fought at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the deadliest massacre sites, and killed dozens of terrorists that day.

Four other soldiers were also seriously injured in combat yesterday.

Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, Israel’s military engineering chief, said troops were in the first stages of opening access roads to Gaza, but were encountering mines and booby traps.

“Hamas learned well and prepared well,” he said.

Hamas and its Islamic Jihad allies would emerge from the tunnels to fire on the tanks, then disappear into the network, residents said, and videos of both groups were released.

The Palestinian death toll following nearly four weeks of Israeli airstrikes and artillery on the blockaded enclave passed 9,000 on Thursday, Gaza health authorities announced.

United Nations experts have warned that the Palestinian people of Gaza are at “grave risk of genocide” as time is running out for them and have demanded an immediate ceasefire.

More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, Hamas government health officials said.

More than 3,600 Palestinian children are believed to have been killed during 25 days of fighting, and bombings have driven more than half of the territory’s 2.3 million residents from their homes, while food, water and fuel is becoming scarce.

“We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at serious risk of genocide,” the group of experts, made up of seven UN special rapporteurs, said in a statement.

“We demand a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure aid reaches those who need it most.

An Israeli artillery unit fires during a military exercise in the annexed Golan Heights near the border with Lebanon on November 2.

People check buildings destroyed during an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 2.

An Israeli rescue team inspects a house that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on November 2, 2023 near Lod, Israel

A victim injured in an Israeli bombing is carried on a stretcher to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 2.

A young Palestinian woman smiles on a hospital bed at Al Arish Hospital after arriving from Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Egypt, November 2.

The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva said it was preparing a response to the experts’ remarks.

While international calls for a humanitarian pause in hostilities have gone unanswered, Palestinians are reportedly suffering shortages of food, fuel, clean water and medicine.

“Water is used as a weapon of war,” said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).