Israel’s military stepped up armed operations around Gaza City on Friday, ending temporary pauses there that had allowed for aid deliveries, as it announced the recovery of the body of Ilan Weiss, a hostage seized by Hamas.
Israel is pushing ahead with a plan to take full control of the whole Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City, with the goal of destroying Hamas after nearly 23 months of war, while facing a global outcry over starvation in the besieged enclave.
“The local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone,” the Israeli military said.
The assault on Gaza City has gradually intensified over the past week as Israel has urged civilians to leave for the south of the Palestinian enclave.
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The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said the military was operating with great intensity on the outskirts of Gaza City and would “deepen our strikes” as it pressed its assault.
It announced daily 10-hour tactical pauses in fighting across the enclave and new aid corridors in late July, after months of severely restricted humanitarian deliveries as images of emaciated children drew international criticism.
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Last week the global hunger monitor that works with the United Nations and major aid agencies said it had determined there was famine in Gaza. Israel has rejected that determination.
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Five people, including two children, died from malnutrition and starvation in Gaza over the previous 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths from such cases to 322 since the start of the war.
Israeli fire across the besieged Palestinian enclave killed 48 people on Friday, local health authorities said.
Reuters video showed a line of bodies in white bags lying outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City early on Friday as relatives sat crying nearby. One man cradled a much smaller body, one hand held across his face.
“What is the reason? Why did they strike them? Let them tell us, what did they do while they were sleeping? What did a three-year-old child do?” said Manal Sahweil, a relative of people killed in an air strike.
The conflict began with a Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities on October 7th, 2023, when gunmen stormed border defences, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and seizing about 250 hostages.
Israeli forces recovered the body of Mr Weiss as well as the remains of a second individual whose identity had yet to be cleared for publication, the office of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said.
An Israeli military official said Mr Weiss was killed on October 7th, 2023, and taken from his home by Hamas fighters. His death was determined on December 3rd, 2023, the official said.
His wife, Shiri, and daughter, Noga, were also abducted and later released as part of a hostage-prisoner swap deal in November 2023.
With Mr Weiss’s body recovered, Israel says 49 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom only 20 are believed to be alive.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials.
