Israel steps up Gaza bombing on war’s first anniversary, civilians desperate for return to calm

CAIRO/GAZA: Israel stepped up its air and ground offensive in Gaza with more attacks on Monday as Gazans marked the first anniversary of Israeli aggression that has destroyed much of the territory and shattered the lives of its people.

Israeli tanks advanced into Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip’s eight historic urban refugee camps, after encircling it, residents said on Monday.

Soon after the rocket volley, the Israeli military expanded evacuation orders in Jabalia to cover areas in the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

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Residents said Israeli forces pounded Jabalia from the air and the ground, and medics said several Palestinians had been killed, with rescuers unable to reach some of the victims.

Later during the day, Palestinian medics said an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians to the west of Jabalia.

For its part, Hamas said it struck Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv with a missile salvo, setting off sirens in central Israel. Two people were lightly injured, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

The rocket volley signalled Hamas’ enduring ability to hit back despite Israeli military campaign that has degraded its combat capacities, a year after the shock cross-border Hamas incursion into Israel.

Hamas’ smaller ally Islamic Jihad said it hit Sderot, Nir Am and other Israeli towns near Gaza with rockets. The Israeli military said it intercepted five rockets fired from Gaza.

Hamas stormed through Israeli towns and kibbutz villages near the border on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent military aggression in Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health ministry, displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million population, and caused a hunger and health crisis.

Israel claims Hamas fight from the cover of built-up residential areas in the densely populated territory, including schools and hospitals. However, Hamas denies this.

Israel targets hospital compound

The Israeli military said it killed dozens of fighters and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia, saying the operation would continue to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

In the central city of Deir Al-Balah, where a million displaced people are sheltering, an Israeli air strike hit tents inside Al-Aqsa Hospital, wounding 11 people, Palestinian medics said. The Israeli military said it struck at Hamas operating from a command centre embedded inside the hospital.

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The Israeli army later ordered residents in some eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis in southern Gaza to leave their homes, and many families started doing so, loading belongings on donkey carts and rickshaws.

Monday was the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, which has given rise to a multi-front conflict across the Middle East as Israel sharply escalates its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

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US-backed Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have been unable so far to broker a Gaza ceasefire that could also help defuse the Lebanon hostilities and see the release of hostages held in Gaza as well as many Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the failure so far to reach an agreement, with each accusing the other of adding conditions that are impossible to meet.

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Hamas wants a deal that ends the war and gets Israeli forces out of Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the war can end only with the eradication of Hamas.

In Gaza on Monday, uprooted Palestinian civilians expressed a desperate desire to go back to pre-war lives.

“Before October 7, one had dreams. As a father, I have six children, my biggest burden was how to provide them with homes and get them married. But after October 7, this came to nothing. After 58 years of work for me, same as my father - all of it went to dust and rocks,” said Abu Hassan Shaheen.

Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ political office in exile, urged Arab and Muslim countries on Monday to launch “new fronts of resistance (against Israel) for the sake of freedom and dignity”.