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Israeli Tanks Advance Deeper into Gaza Districts, 12 Weeks into War

An Israeli army vehicle is seen near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. (AP)
An Israeli army vehicle is seen near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. (AP)
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Israeli Tanks Advance Deeper into Gaza Districts, 12 Weeks into War

An Israeli army vehicle is seen near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. (AP)
An Israeli army vehicle is seen near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. (AP)

Israeli tanks pushed deeper into central and southern Gaza on Saturday under heavy air and artillery fire, residents said, pressing a deadly offensive that has razed much of the enclave and that Israel has said may last months more.

Fighting was focused in al-Bureij, Nuseirat, Maghazi and Khan Younis, backed by intensive air strikes that filled hospitals with wounded Palestinians.

The bombardment has killed 165 people and wounded 250 others in Gaza over the past 24 hours, health authorities in the Hamas-run territory said.

At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the biggest and most important medical facility in the south of the tiny, crowded territory, a Red Crescent video showed paramedics rushing a tiny, dust-covered baby into a busy hospital as one shouted "there is breathing, there is breathing".

Almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been forced from their homes by Israel's 12-week assault, triggered after Hamas and allied groups killed 1,200 people and captured 240 hostages in a rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The offensive has killed at least 21,672 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza, with more than 56,000 injured and thousands more feared dead under the rubble.

Israel says 170 of its military personnel have been killed in the Gaza fighting.

The conflict risks spreading across the region, drawing in Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, that have exchanged fire with Israel and its US ally, or targeted merchant shipping.

Bombardment has smashed houses, apartment blocks and businesses and put hospitals out of action. On Saturday the Palestinian Culture Ministry said Israeli strikes had struck a medieval bathhouse. The old Great Mosque was hit earlier in the war.

Ziad, a medic in Maghazi in central Gaza, was fleeing with his family of three children to Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

"We want a ceasefire now. Not tomorrow even. Enough, more than enough, already," he said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday troops were reaching Hamas command centers and arms depots. Pictures released by the military showed soldiers moving across churned-up earth among ruins of destroyed buildings.

Artillery shells

The Israeli military said it had destroyed a tunnel complex in the basement of one of the houses of the Hamas leader for Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza City.  

Troops also raided the Hamas military intelligence headquarters and an Islamic Jihad command center in Khan Younis, killed several gunmen elsewhere in the town as they prepared ambushes, and destroyed targets including a weapons foundry, a military statement said.

In northern Gaza, Israeli forces killed more than 15 gunmen in clashes and captured weapons caches, the statement said.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said in separate statements their fighters destroyed and damaged several Israeli tanks and troop carriers in attacks across Gaza on Saturday. They also said they fired mortar bombs against Israeli forces in Khan Younis and Al-Bureij as well as in areas in northern Gaza.

Israel's stated aim is to destroy Hamas and while the US has called for it to scale down the war in coming weeks and move to targeted operations against the group's leaders, so far it shows no sign of doing so.

On Friday US Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved the sale of more artillery shells and other equipment to Israel without congressional review, the Pentagon said.

Israel said on Friday it had facilitated the entry of vaccines into Gaza in coordination with UNICEF, the UN children's agency, to help prevent the spread of disease.

The little aid reaching the enclave since the start of the war, when Israel imposed a near total blockade on all food, medicine and fuel, has come across the border with Egypt.

Israel has only allowed access to the south of the enclave, where it started ordering all Gaza civilians to move from October, and aid agencies have said Israeli inspections have stopped all but a small fraction of needed supplies getting in.

The Israeli government said it does not limit humanitarian aid and the problem was with distribution inside Gaza.

Al-Bureij, Nuseirat and Khan Younis are three of eight camps set up in Gaza for some of the Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during Israel's creation in 1948. The camps have gradually become crowded urban areas after decades of building. Other Palestinian refugees live in camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the West Bank.

Palestinian journalist killed

South Africa asked the International Court of Justice on Friday for an urgent order declaring Israel in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown against Hamas in Gaza.

In response, Israel's foreign ministry blamed Hamas for causing the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza by using them as human shields and stealing relief aid from them. Hamas denies the accusations.

The Gaza war has also stoked violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. On Saturday, Israeli troops shot a Palestinian motorist who tried to ram them near the West Bank city of Hebron, the army said. He was killed in the incident, the Palestinian health ministry said.

A Palestinian journalist working for Al-Quds TV was killed along with some of his family members in an air strike on their house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip on Friday, health officials and fellow journalists said.

Gaza's government media office says 106 Palestinian journalists have been killed in the Israeli offensive.

Israel has previously said it has never and will never deliberately attack journalists and that it is doing what it can to avoid civilian casualties, but the high death toll has caused concern even among its staunchest allies.

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Türkiye's Erdogan Hopes Instability in Syria Will Be Solved with Agreement

People and Syrian rescuers known as the White Helmets stand near building rubble at the site of a reported airstrike on a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
People and Syrian rescuers known as the White Helmets stand near building rubble at the site of a reported airstrike on a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Türkiye's Erdogan Hopes Instability in Syria Will Be Solved with Agreement

People and Syrian rescuers known as the White Helmets stand near building rubble at the site of a reported airstrike on a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
People and Syrian rescuers known as the White Helmets stand near building rubble at the site of a reported airstrike on a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 2, 2024. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he hoped the instability in Syria would be concluded with an agreement in line with the demands of the Syrian people.

"Our greatest wish is for Syria's territorial integrity and national unity to be preserved, and for the instability that has been going on for 13 years to end with consensus in line with the legitimate demands of the Syrian people," Erdogan said.

Speaking at a press conference, Erdogan also said Ankara was closely monitoring developments in neighboring Syria and taking the necessary measures to prevent harm to Türkiye's security.

Earlier on Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the recent rapid advance by opposition fighters in Syria shows that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must reconcile with his own people and hold dialogue with the opposition

At a joint news conference in Ankara with his Iranian counterpart, Fidan said Türkiye and Iran, which support opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, have agreed to resume diplomatic efforts along with Russia to restore calm days after fighters launched a lightning offensive and captured almost all of the country’s largest city, Aleppo.

The swift advance by fighters that Türkiye supports was a huge embarrassment for Assad and it comes at a time when his allies — Iran and groups it backs and Russia — are preoccupied with their own conflicts.

The push is among the opposition’s strongest in years and raises the prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East when US-backed Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iranian-allied groups.

Fidan, whose country has backed forces opposed to Assad, blamed the recent flare-up of the conflict on the Syrian government’s refusal to enter a dialogue with the opposition that Türkiye supports.

“Recent developments show once again that Damascus must reconcile with its own people and the legitimate opposition,” the Turkish minister said. “Türkiye is ready to make all the necessary contribution toward this.”

Fidan’s comments emerged amid Turkish frustration that recent efforts toward a reconciliation with Assad have fallen flat. The comments indicated that the shock offensive launched by opposition fighters could be aimed at pressuring the Syrian leader to engage in political talks.

Türkiye has been seeking to normalize ties with Syria to address security threats from groups affiliated with Kurdish militants along its southern border and to help ensure the safe return of more than 3 million Syrian refugees. Assad has insisted that Türkiye’s withdrawal of its forces from northern Syria be a condition for any normalization between the two countries.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who visited Assad on Sunday before traveling to Ankara, reiterated Tehran’s full support for the Syrian government. Iran has been one of Assad’s principal political and military supporters and has deployed military advisers and forces after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war.

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have deployed in Syria to back the government’s counteroffensive against the opposition, an Iraqi militia official and a war monitor said Monday.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, some 200 Iraqi militiamen riding on pickups crossed into Syria overnight through the strategic al-Boukamal crossing. They were expected to deploy in Aleppo to support the Syrian army’s pushback against the opposition fighters, the monitor said.

The opposition offensive in Syria has caused concern among neighboring countries that the conflict could spill over. In Iraq, Interior Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Miqdad Miri said security forces have deployed in greater numbers to protect their large border with Syria.

Fidan reiterated Türkiye’s support for Syria’s territorial integrity, but suggested that Türkiye would not hesitate to intervene against Syrian Kurdish militia groups that Ankara considers to be terrorists if they “exploit the environment of instability.”

“It was a mistake to ignore the legitimate demands of the opposition and for the (Syrian) regime not to sincerely engage in the political process,” Fidan said.

“Türkiye will never, ever allow terrorist organizations that seek to exploit the environment of instability, Fidan said. “We will eliminate any threat to our national security and our people wherever it emerges.”

Both Fidan and Araghchi said Türkiye, Iran and Russia would convene a new three-way meeting to address the conflict in Syria.

"We have decided to hold closer consultations and dialogue, and with God’s permission, we will cooperate to further improve the situation toward peace and stability in our region,” Araghchi said.

Russia, whose intervention in Syria’s civil war on behalf of Assad was crucial in turning the conflict in his favor, has said it will continue to support him.

“We continue our contacts at the appropriate level and analyze the situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday. “A position will be formed regarding what is needed to stabilize the situation.”

As Syrian and Russian jets continued pounding targets, two airstrikes hit a group of four hospitals and the health directorate building in Idlib city, the Syrian Civil Defense force that operates in opposition-held areas, known as the White Helmets, said.

Two people in Idlib University Hospital died after their oxygen machines turned off following the strikes. Ceiling panels and doors at the hospital were blown off, while ambulances and vehicles outside were severely damaged according to footage taken by journalist with The Associated Press at the hospital.

At least 15 civilians were killed in Idlib city and province, according to the White Helmets.

Syrian Kurds were fleeing the fighting in large numbers after Turkish-backed fighters seized Tel Rifaat from rival US-backed Kurdish authorities. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces largely withdrew and called for a humanitarian corridor to allow people to leave safely in convoys toward Aleppo and later to Kurdish-led northeast regions.