Israel army chief says Gaza war to continue for ‘many more months’
Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza will probably go on for many months, the country’s military chief has said.
Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), told a press conference today that the military is expanding operations in southern and central Gaza as it is close to dismantling all of Hamas’s battalions in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the Times of Israel reported.
The war “will continue for many more months, and we will work with different methods so that our achievements are preserved for a long time”, AFP reported that Halevi said. He added:
There are no magic solutions, there are no shortcuts when it comes to thoroughly dismantling a terrorist organisation except being stubborn and determined in the fighting.
He said the IDF will reach the Hamas leadership “whether it takes a week or whether it takes months”, adding:
We are increasing the military pressure, in different ways, powerfully and in a deceptive way. This pressure enables the realisation of the goals of the war, the dismantling of Hamas, and the return of the hostages.
Key events
Edward Helmore
Pro-Palestinian protesters staged a demonstration near the homes of the US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, and the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Monday.
Near Austin’s home, they held signs calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The protesters chanted: “Austin, Austin, rise and shine – no sleep during genocide.” A crowd of protesters later adopted a similar tactic outside the home of Sullivan.
Posting on X, the activist group named the People’s Forum said it “woke up … Lloyd Austin as he tried to go on with his [Christmas] while arming & supporting zionist genocide against the Palestinian people. Now, we disrupt ANOTHER war criminal: [Jake Sullivan]. The people say NO XMAS AS USUAL!”
Israel army chief says Gaza war to continue for ‘many more months’
Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza will probably go on for many months, the country’s military chief has said.
Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), told a press conference today that the military is expanding operations in southern and central Gaza as it is close to dismantling all of Hamas’s battalions in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the Times of Israel reported.
The war “will continue for many more months, and we will work with different methods so that our achievements are preserved for a long time”, AFP reported that Halevi said. He added:
There are no magic solutions, there are no shortcuts when it comes to thoroughly dismantling a terrorist organisation except being stubborn and determined in the fighting.
He said the IDF will reach the Hamas leadership “whether it takes a week or whether it takes months”, adding:
We are increasing the military pressure, in different ways, powerfully and in a deceptive way. This pressure enables the realisation of the goals of the war, the dismantling of Hamas, and the return of the hostages.
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires from the Rafah border crossing in Egypt, where Palestinians are waiting after being evacuated from Gaza.
A senior Israeli official has said there are differences between the US and Israel over the war but that both countries are “on the same side”.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN:
We can have different discussions on this tactical issue or that tactical issue. We listen very attentively to whatever Washington says, and I believe they listen very carefully to whatever we say to them.
But ultimately, we’re on the same side of this. We want to see Hamas destroyed.
He added that it was “only a matter of time” before Israel achieved victory in northern Gaza, arguing that reconstruction in the territory could not happen until Hamas is eliminated.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will meet with Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, today.
The meeting will discuss the conflict in Gaza and the return of hostages held by Hamas, according to a White House statement.
Internet and phone services down in Gaza, says provider
The Palestinian phone service provider, Paltel, has said all telecommunications and Internet services have been lost in the Gaza Strip.
A social media post by the company reads:
We regret to announce a complete breakdown of fixed telecommunications and internet services in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing offensive.
Our teams are working diligently, within the available resources, to restore services.
We regret to announce that fixed and internet services in Gaza Strip have been lost due to the ongoing aggression.
Our teams are working diligently, within the available resources, to restore services.— Paltel (@Paltelco) December 26, 2023
Summary of the day so far…
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Israel’s military said an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon had hit a church in northern Israel and injured a civilian, AFP reported. It said the missile hit the Greek orthodox church on a hilltop in Iqrit.
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A blast occurred near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday, government authorities said. Israel’s foreign ministry said all staff were unharmed and Israeli authorities were cooperating with their Indian counterparts to investigate the cause of the explosion.
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The UN’s human rights office spokesperson, Seif Magango, said the UN was “gravely concerned” about the “continued bombardment” of central Gaza by Israeli forces. He said Israeli forces must take all measures available to protect civilians and that attacks must adhere to the principles of humanitarian international law.
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20,915 people have been killed and 54,918 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry has said. The ministry said 241 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours and 382 injured.
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Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said Israel was facing a “multi-front war and are coming under attack from seven theatres: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria (West Bank), Iraq, Yemen and Iran”. He told lawmakers: “We have already responded and taken action in six of these theatres.”
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People in central Gaza described a night of shelling and airstrikes shaking the Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps, which were crowded with people who fled from the north in search of safety, the Associated Press reported.
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society said some displaced people had been injured in artillery shelling that targeted the upper floors of the organisation’s headquarters in Khan Younis. It wrote on X that thousands of internally displaced people had been sheltering in the building.
Israel’s military says church struck by anti-tank missile from Lebanon
Israel’s military has said an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon had hit a church in northern Israel and injured a civilian, AFP reports.
It said the missile hit the Greek orthodox church on a hilltop in Iqrit. The army accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of continued firing at Israeli “civilian and religious sites”.
Clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border between Hezbollah and Israel have continued to intensify, with daily exchanges of missiles, airstrikes and shelling across the frontier.
Blast reported near Israeli embassy in New Delhi
A blast occurred near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday and all staff were unharmed, government authorities said.
“We can confirm that… there was a blast at close proximity to the embassy,” the Israeli embassy spokesperson, Guy Nir, told Reuters.
Israel’s foreign ministry said all staff were unharmed and Israeli authorities were cooperating with their Indian counterparts to investigate the cause of the explosion.
UN ‘gravely concerned’ by Israeli ‘bombardment’ of central Gaza
The UN’s human rights office spokesperson, Seif Magango, has said the UN is “gravely concerned” about the “continued bombardment” of central Gaza by Israeli forces.
He said Israeli forces must take all measures available to protect civilians and that attacks must adhere to the principles of humanitarian international law.
In a statement, Magango said:
We are gravely concerned about the continued bombardment of middle Gaza by Israeli forces, which has claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives since Christmas Eve.
It is particularly concerning that this latest intense bombardment comes after Israeli forces ordered residents from the south of Wadi Gaza to move to Middle Gaza and Tal al-Sultan in Rafah.
The Israeli Air Force reportedly carried out more than 50 strikes across middle Gaza on 24-25 December, including on three refugee camps, al-Bureij, al-Nuseirat, and al-Maghazi.
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, will visit Ankara on 4 January to meet his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for talks likely to focus on the situations in Gaza and Syria as well as bilateral ties, a Turkish official said.
Turkey has harshly criticised Israel for its attacks on Gaza, called for an immediate ceasefire and said Israeli leaders should be tried in international courts for war crimes.
Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have launched attacks on Israel and its allies in support of Hamas.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from Gaza:
The Israeli army has said it arrested senior Palestinian politician Khalida Jarrar in the occupied West Bank, along with other activists of her party, AFP reports.
Jarrar, 60, is a prominent figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a faction in the Palestine Liberation Organisation considered a “terrorist” group by Israel, the US and the EU.
“Khaleda Jarrar, a wanted terrorist, was arrested … along with other PFLP activists,” the army said in a statement.
Jarrar had been previously arrested by Israeli forces in October 2019 and released in September the following year, after being held without trial.
Her husband, Ghassan Jarrar, told AFP soldiers stormed the family home in the city of Ramallah “by breaking open the front door at 5am (0300 GMT”).
Jarrar was elected in 2006 to the Palestinian assembly as a PFLP representative. She has lobbied for the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The PFLP, in a statement, said Israel’s army launched a “vast campaign on Tuesday morning to arrest leaders” of the group in the occupied West Bank.
“These arrests will not break the will of our people,” it said.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
