Israeli defense minister resists pressure to halt ground military offensive in Gaza
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Israeli soldiers take positions near the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel on Monday.
Associated Press
Palestinians check a house destroyed in the Israeli bombardment on Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
FILE – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a news conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 28, 2023. On Monday, Dec. 11, Gallant pushed back against international calls to wrap up the country’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying the current phase of the operation against the Hamas militant group will “take time.” (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks to reporters prior to a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. On Monday, Dec. 11, Gallant pushed back against international calls to wrap up the countryâs military offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying the current phase of the operation against the Hamas militant group will âtake time.â (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Rafah, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
Palestinians mourn relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside a morgue in Kahn Younis on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Rafah, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a hospital in Rafah, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
Israeli army tanks move along the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel.
Israeli army tanks move along the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel.
Israeli army tanks are seen near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel.
Israeli troops are seen near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel.
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel.
Israeli troops are seen near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel.
Israeli security forces inspect a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Holon, central Israel on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
Israeli security forces inspect a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Holon, central Israel on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
Demonstrators carry posters with pictures of Palestinians killed during the current conflict in Gaza and fly Palestinian flags during a rally in solidarity with Gaza, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
Palestinians burn Israeli flags, during the observance of a global day of boycotts and strikes called for by pro-Palestinian activists to demand a cease-fire in Gaza, at Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. Public agencies, schools and banks were shuttered in Lebanon Monday in observance of a global day of boycotts and strikes called for by pro-Palestinian activists to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
Palestinian children hold a giant Palestinian flag, during the observance of a global day of boycotts and strikes called for by pro-Palestinian activists to demand a cease-fire in Gaza, at Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. Public agencies, schools and banks were shuttered in Lebanon Monday in observance of a global day of boycotts and strikes called for by pro-Palestinian activists to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s defense minister on Monday pushed back against international calls to wrap up the country’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying the current phase of the operation against the Hamas militant group will “take time.”
Yoav Gallant, a member of Israel’s three-man war cabinet, remained unswayed by a growing chorus of criticism over the widespread damage and heavy civilian death toll caused by the two-month military campaign. The U.N. secretary-general and leading Arab states have called for an immediate cease-fire. The United States has urged Israel to reduce civilian casualties, though it has provided unwavering diplomatic and military support.
Israel launched the campaign after Hamas militants stormed across its southern border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping about 240 others.
Two months of airstrikes, coupled with a fierce ground invasion, have resulted in the deaths of more than 17,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory. They do not give a breakdown between civilians and combatants but say that roughly two-thirds of the dead have been women and minors. Nearly 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
In a briefing with The Associated Press, Gallant refused to commit to any firm deadlines, but he signaled that the current phase, characterized by heavy ground fighting backed up by air power, could stretch on for weeks and that further military activity could continue for months.
“We are going to defend ourselves. I am fighting for Israel’s future,” he said.
Gallant said the next phase would be lower-intensity fighting against “pockets of resistance” and would require Israeli troops to maintain their freedom of operation. “That’s a sign the next phase has begun,” he said.
Gallant spoke as Israeli forces battled militants in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where the military opened a new line of attack last week. Battles were also still underway in parts of Gaza City and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, where large areas have been reduced to rubble and many thousands of civilians are still trapped by the fighting.
Israel has pledged to keep fighting until it removes Hamas from power, dismantles its military capabilities and gets back all of the hostages. It says Hamas still has 117 hostages and the remains of 20 people who died in captivity or during the initial attack. More than 100 captives were freed last month during a weeklong truce.
Gallant keeps a framed picture on the desk of his spacious office with pictures of all the children taken hostage. All but two are marked with small hearts, signaling their release from captivity.
In central Gaza, an Israeli airstrike overnight flattened a residential building where some 80 people were staying in the Maghazi refugee camp, residents said.
Ahmed al-Qarah, a neighbor who was digging through the rubble for survivors, said he knew of only six people who made it out. “The rest are under the building,” he said. At a nearby hospital, family members sobbed over the bodies of several of the dead from the strike.
In Khan Younis, Radwa Abu Frayeh saw heavy Israeli strikes overnight around the European Hospital, where the U.N. humanitarian office says tens of thousands of people have sought shelter. She said one strike hit a home close to hers late Sunday.
“The building shook,” she said. “We thought it was the end and we would die.”
Gallant blamed Hamas for the heavy civilian death toll, saying that the militant group maintains a network of tunnels underneath schools, streets and hospitals.
He claimed that Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hamas, killing half of the group’s battalion commanders, destroying tunnels, command centers and weapons facilities and recovereing”hundreds of terabytes” of information about Hamas from computers seized.
Israeli officials have said some 7,000 Hamas militants — roughly one-quarter of the group’s fighting force — have been killed throughout the war and that 500 militants have been detained in Gaza the past month. Israel says 104 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive.
The result, he said, is that in the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas has been reduced to “islands of resistance” acting on the whims of local commanders.
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