Israeli forces return to Gaza City

Just a day after three US service members were killed and 34 others wounded in Jordan in what Washington said was a drone attack by Iran-backed militias, the Biden administration is facing mounting pressure to respond firmly without sparking a wider war.

“The president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces and will take all necessary actions to protect America and our troops,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon on Monday.

“We don’t want to go to war with Iran,” White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said. “We don’t want to start a war in the region, but we have to do what we have to do.”

Iran has denied any involvement in the attack. Biden has previously ordered retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed groups but has so far refrained from ordering direct strikes against Iran.

“And make no mistake — we will ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable in a time and manner that we desire,” Biden said on Sunday.

In Gaza, locals said airstrikes on residential areas across Gaza City had left many people dead or injured. They said tanks were also shelling the eastern part of the city and navy boats were shelling and firing at the western coastal areas.

Israel declared most of its campaign in northern Gaza over in 2023. The decision to return to Gaza City, where locals have reported heavy gunfire around the main Al Shifa hospital, suggests the war is not going as planned.

Among those killed were two Palestinian journalists, Essam El-lulu and Hussein Attalah, along with several of their family members , health officials and the local journalists' association said.

For its part, Hamas launched its first barrage of rockets in weeks at Israeli cities, showing that the organization that runs Gaza still has the ability to launch rocket attacks after four months of fighting.

The Israeli military said it shot down six of the 15 rockets. Hamas said it had launched them in retaliation for the deaths in Gaza. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Israel, where air raid sirens were sounded and explosions from the air strikes were heard.

Gazans say Israel is ignoring the International Court

Gaza residents say the violence in the enclave is a snub to a ruling this week by the International Court of Justice that Israel should do better in protecting civilians. Health officials say 26,637 Palestinians have died in the conflict, with thousands more bodies likely trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

“The war is still going on in a dirty way,” said Mustafa Ibrahim, a Gaza City resident and Palestinian human rights activist who is being forced to flee with his family to Rafah on the southern border with Egypt along with more than a million other Gazans.

Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem.

Israel has issued new evacuation orders for densely populated areas of Gaza City, but residents say the failure of telecommunications infrastructure means many will not receive the warnings. Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, leading to a high civilian death toll, a charge Hamas denies.

Residents in northern Gaza have been forced to grind animal feed for flour after running out of flour, rice and sugar, while the humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as more countries withdraw support for UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees.

The United States and several other countries suspended support for the agency on Friday after Israel confirmed that 13 of its 13,000 staff in Gaza were involved in Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with the head of the internal investigation team at the international body to ensure investigations into the allegations “will be carried out as quickly and effectively as possible,” a UN spokesman said.

The Israeli report asserts that 190 UNRWA staff members have joined militant groups, naming 11 of them.

UNRWA, which has claimed more than 150 staff members have died since October 2023 and that one million Palestinians are sheltering in its buildings, said it would have to shut down operations within a month if it did not receive financial support. The agency also said it had fired several staff members shortly after receiving the Israeli accusations.

Several air strikes were also carried out on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, a major Israeli target since last week, after Israeli forces pushed deep into the territory where hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated from other areas.

Thousands of people are being forced to flee in desperation. Many flee south with small children and a few blankets. Suleiman Abusari, a boy in a wheelchair pushed by his father, said his leg had been amputated after he was injured in an Israeli drone strike.

“My dream was to play soccer. They took that away from me.”

"Not yet across the finish line"

President Biden and world leaders have urged a ceasefire to allow for the release of hostages held by Hamas and more aid into Gaza.

The Israeli government said Sunday’s talks, initiated by Qatar and attended by the intelligence chiefs of the United States, Israel and Egypt, were “constructive” but also said “significant problems remain.” Hamas has said it will not release the hostages until Israel commits to ending the war. Israel has said it will continue to fight until Hamas is defeated.

A White House national security spokesman said a framework for a hostage release deal had been laid out, but “we haven’t crossed the finish line yet.”

In neighboring Syria, two people were killed and several wounded in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the capital, Syrian and Iranian media reported. Iran’s ambassador to Damascus denied reports that the area was an Iranian military outpost. Israel, which has long been rumored to be ready to strike Iranian-linked targets in Syria, declined to comment.

Nguyen Quang Minh (Reuters)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/luc-luong-israel-tro-lai-thanh-pho-gaza-a648014.html