Israel Offers Escape For North Gaza Citizens, But Fighting Continues
By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos
ISTANBUL/JERUSALEM/GAZA (Worthy News) – Israel’s army announced late Sunday that it stopped firing in northern Gaza for several hours two days in a row amid pressure to introduce a temporary ceasefire.
“Yesterday and today, for many hours with prior notice and warning, we facilitated, we stopped firing in certain areas of northern Gaza, which is the main combat area, and we called on Palestinians to move south,” Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told U.S. broadcaster CNN.
It came while Israel’s army moved deeper inside Gaza on Monday local time after reportedly uncovering an extensive Hamas-constructed tunnel city beneath the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli officials estimate there are 1,300 tunnels spanning 300 miles (480 kilometers) across the Gaza Strip, which itself is just 25 miles (40 kilometers) long.
The military describes the network as one of the most elaborate “underground webs” in the world. In an interview last week with The Washington Post newspaper, senior Hamas leader Ali Baraka, based in Beirut, Lebanon, claimed that “the fighters are underground, waiting for the battle.”
He estimates there are 40,000 operatives in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm, and 20,000 in other factions. “They can’t handle 60,000,” he said, calling out the Israeli military.
The Hamas passageways dug with hand tools over decades are reinforced with precast concrete and have tramways for hand trolleys, electric lighting, communication nodes, and ventilation fans, according to sources familiar with the situation.
UNDERGROUND BUNKERS
The Israeli military has said there are underground bunkers beneath Gaza hospitals. Palestinian doctors have denied this despite mounting evidence that Hamas fighters are hiding between civilian sites, including hospitals.
And on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces shared video of what it said was evidence of Hamas rocket launchers placed next to a children’s swimming pool and a playground in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel has long accused Hamas, which it views as a terrorist organization, of deliberately placing rocket launchers near and in civilian sites such as hospitals, schools, mosques and United Nations buildings.
One of the videos circulated by the IDF on its social media channels shows four rocket launching barrels in a residential neighborhood of the city of Beit Hanoun, some 16 feet (5 meters) from a children’s swimming pool and around 65 to 100 feet (30 meters) from residential buildings.
“All of this is in the heart of a residential neighborhood,” a soldier explained.
The IDF also provided video and pictures of rocket launchers positioned within a children’s playground and amusement park compound. “This is further proof of the Hamas terror organization’s constant use of the civilian population as a human shield for terror purposes,” the IDF claimed a statement.
THOUSANDS OF ROCKETS
Israel says Hamas fired more than 8,000 rockets at Israeli civilians since October 7, when thousands of its gunmen invaded the Israel killing many.
As fighting continued, the U.S. secretary of state arrived in Turkey as part of his regional tour and a push for a pause in the fighting. Speaking in Baghdad, Antony Blinken said regional leaders would “welcome” a humanitarian pause in Gaza.
Separately, Blinken also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, on Sunday, where they discussed violence in Gaza and how to mitigate civilian deaths.
“This is a process,” Blinken told reporters. “Israel has raised important questions about how humanitarian pauses would work. We’ve got to answer those questions.”
Israel said, however, that it needs progress on the release of hostages before agreeing to any official pause in its offensive.
The Israeli military also stressed that its troops continue to move and have reached the coastline in the south of Gaza City. “Today there is Gaza North and Gaza South,” a spokesman says. “They reached the coastline; they hold that line.”
FIERCE AIR STRIKES
Eyewitnesses said air strikes on Gaza launched late Sunday are the most intense since the war began. Israel began bombing Gaza after Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in Israel and kidnapped over 200 others.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the Strip since October 7, but those figures have begun challenging to verify. It was also unclear how many Hamas fighters were among the casualties.
As the war between Hamas terrorists and Israel entered its second month on Monday, the U.S. military sent or redirected at least 17,350 military personnel to the region, several sources said.
At least 1,200 troops have reputedly been deployed. Additionally, carrier strike groups sent to the Eastern Mediterranean – the USS Gerald Ford and USS Eisenhower – carry around 6,000 personnel each.
The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group includes around 4,000 sailors and marines, while the Ohio-class submarine that recently entered CENTCOM’s area of responsibility has a crew of about 150.
The U.S. military has also sent various aircraft to the region, including F-35s, F-15s, F-16s, A-10s and F-18s.
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