By Gwen Ackerman, Augusta Saraiva and Fares Akram
Israeli leaders rejected mounting pressure to halt the military campaign in the southern Gaza Strip and vowed to continue until Hamas is eradicated, even as the death toll rose and the United Nations warned that civilians had no safe haven during the bombings.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a briefing with other members of his war cabinet that if the rest of the world wants the war to end quickly, it must stand with Israel. He accused international organizations of ignoring what he said were “abhorrent” cases of rape by Hamas fighters during the October 7 raid that sparked the latest violence.
“Hamas is trying to break us down, but instead we are tearing them apart,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israeli forces had killed half of Hamas's battalion commanders. “We will fight to the end, to a crushing victory.”
The message echoed past arguments that Netanyahu and the Cabinet have made about the concerns of the Biden administration and other allies, who have warned that the destruction wrought in northern Gaza ahead of a seven-day ceasefire that ended last week will not may repeat in the south. In a message to X on Tuesday, the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, urged another pause in the fighting.
While Israel has said it is taking more precautions to protect the lives of civilians, the Hamas-led Health Ministry said Tuesday that the death toll since the end of the ceasefire has risen to around 1,000 people, increasing the number of dead Palestinians since it began of Israel's counter-offensive has become even greater. than 16,000 people. Israel announced on Tuesday that another seven soldiers had been killed in the latest fighting.
The Israeli government has accused Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist group by the US and EU, of using residents as human shields by operating near or under hospitals and schools.
The Israeli army has surrounded Khan Younis, the area's second-largest city, in an attempt to eradicate Hamas. Hamas launched the war on October 7 after breaching barriers in southern Israel and killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The IDF believes Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif are in the city, according to a report by Axios, citing officials they did not identify.
The UN expressed its frustration over the civilian deaths on Tuesday. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the message to prevent civilian deaths “has not been very successful, to be quite honest.”
“There are no safe places” in Gaza, he said. “There are shelters flying the UN flag, sheltering thousands and thousands and thousands of people – men, women, children. The places where the UN flag hangs are also not safe.”
In his post, the EU's Borrell said he had been told the UN would not be able to operate in southern Gaza because of the Israeli bombing. In further underscoring the international scrutiny, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with Netanyahu on Tuesday and called for more aid to Gaza.
Sunak “expressed his disappointment at the end of the lull in fighting in Gaza, which allowed the release of hostages,” his office said in a readout.
The US has tried to emphasize that the Israeli military has made efforts to notify people in Gaza of operations and direct them to other areas. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in remarks late Tuesday in Washington, underscored the balancing act the Biden administration is trying to maintain.
“We are committed to ensuring that Israel can do what is necessary to ensure October 7 never happens again,” Blinken said. “But we must also ensure that we do everything possible to help those who desperately need help, including the many innocent men, women and children in Gaza.”
Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli government spokesman said securing the release of all those captured by Hamas and other armed groups on October 7 remains a war objective, in addition to destroying the Islamic militant group.
The spokesman, Eylon Levy, said Israel said it would consider a new ceasefire in the short term if an agreement can be reached to return more hostages still in captivity.
“A temporary pause to get them out” would be considered, Levy said
During the seven-day ceasefire that ended on December 1, Hamas returned 110 of the more than 240 people it took. In return, Israel released approximately three times as many Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire ended, Israel said, when Hamas reneged on an agreement to return all women and children. Hamas is still holding 138 hostages, including 20 women and two children. Israel says at least 15 of the hostages taken on October 7 have died.
Qatar – which helped broker the latest halt to fighting – said it is working towards another pause. That should not be seen as an “alternative to a permanent ceasefire,” Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said in Doha.
Speaking at a fundraiser in Massachusetts on Tuesday, President Joe Biden said there had been hours of working with the Qataris to mediate the break, but when Hamas ended the release of the hostages, everything fell apart. “We have to get it back on track,” Biden said of the halt to fighting.
Also on Tuesday, the US said it would deny visas to Israeli settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, a rare rebuke aimed at increasing pressure on Israel to curb the violence. Israeli settlers have carried out more than 220 attacks on Palestinian communities in the West Bank since the war began, according to human rights groups.