(Dan Tri) – The Israeli army continues to attack the Gaza Strip, while Houthi forces in Yemen announced that they will continue to target ships in the Red Sea to support the Hamas movement.
An Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip (Photo: Reuters).
In Gaza, Israel’s latest rocket attack hit the southern Rafah area, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees have gathered in recent weeks.
Local health officials said on December 19 that the attack killed at least 20 people and injured dozens while they were sleeping at home.
In northern Gaza, another attack killed 13 people and injured about 75 at the Jabalia refugee camp.
Palestinians said Israel increased its air and tank attacks on Jabalia on the evening of December 19.
Israel claimed to have warned in advance of the attacks so civilians could leave, and accused Hamas fighters of hiding in residential areas and using hospitals and schools as cover.
According to an Israeli military official, the country’s air force is conducting `thousands of attacks and often attacks that require heavy firepower` to penetrate Hamas’ underground tunnel network.
Gaza residents said that during the ground war, where Israel lost 132 soldiers, tanks pushed deeper into the southern city of Khan Younis and shelled but met strong resistance.
Thousands of Hamas fighters, concentrated in tunnels, are waging a guerrilla war against Israeli forces.
`The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is continuing to operate against Hamas’s infrastructure and offensive activities in the Gaza Strip,` the Israeli army said in a statement.
Israeli military officials told reporters at a press conference on December 19 that heavy civilian casualties were the price to pay for Israel’s fierce campaign to eliminate Hamas and its war strategy.
Gaza health authorities confirmed that 19,667 Palestinians have been killed and 52,586 injured since October 7, when Hamas launched an attack campaign on Israel.
The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said more than 60% of Gaza’s infrastructure had been destroyed or damaged, with more than 90% of the 2.3 million population displaced.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli leaders during a visit on December 18 that protecting civilians in Gaza is both a `moral obligation and a strategic imperative`.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the war would not stop until the remaining 129 hostages were freed and Hamas was wiped out.
Houthis warn ships in the Red Sea
The conflict has spread beyond Gaza, including into the Red Sea, where Houthi forces have attacked ships with missiles and drones.
`Our position will not change in resolving the Palestinian issue, whether a naval alliance is established or not,` Mohammed Abdulsalam, a senior member of the Houthi force, told Reuters, at the same time.
`Our stance in support of Palestine and the Gaza Strip will remain until the end of the siege, food and medicine are provided, and our support for the Palestinian people will continue.`
The US Secretary of Defense said this week that several countries have agreed to jointly patrol the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to protect cargo ships from Houthi forces in Yemen.
Houthi forces in Yemen have intervened in the Israel-Hamas conflict by attacking ships on important shipping routes, and even launching drones and missiles into Israel from a distance of more than 1,600km.
Nick John