David Brennan
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units pressing into the southern Gaza Strip will leave "no hiding place" for Hamas fighters and other militants, a government spokesperson has said, as the Palestinian civilian death toll again spikes under Israel bombardment.
Eylon Levy said at a Jerusalem Press Club briefing on Tuesday morning that the "second chapter" of Israel's war on Hamas is now well underway, with the IDF push towards the city of Khan Younis being preceded by intense airstrikes.
"We're moving south to continue erasing the whole of Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip," Levy said. "All of its terrorist infrastructure, all of its governing infrastructure. We are going after every tunnel, every commander because the goal of this war is to totally destroy Hamas; total victory over the terror organization that perpetrated the October 7 massacre."
Palestinians inspect the damage in a residential area in Rafah following Israeli air strikes on December 4, 2023. Israeli troops are turning to the southern portion of the Palestinian territory to destroy Hamas.
The recent truce—agreed to allow the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli jails—eased the pressure on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. But the fighting is now back in full swing.
The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said the death toll in the territory since October 7 has surpassed 15,890 people, the Associated Press reported. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and military casualties. The IDF has claimed to have killed 5,000 Palestinian militants in its operation.
The Israeli offensive into the impoverished Palestinian territory—controlled by Hamas since 2007—followed the October 7 infiltration attack into southern Israel, which killed some 1,200 people and saw hundreds taken back to Gaza as hostages. There are still 137 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, Levy said on Tuesday.
Western and United States support for Israel's anti-Hamas operation remains strong, though there have been many expressions of public outrage over the scale of civilian casualties and the extent of the destruction wrought on Gaza.
Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council humanitarian organization, said in a statement sent to Newsweek on Tuesday that the "pulverizing of Gaza" is a "stain on Israel and its allies."
President Joe Biden and White House officials have been urging the Israeli allies to do more to limit civilian deaths. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that Israel had "indicated that there are areas where there will be 'no-strike' zones, and in those zones, we do expect Israel to follow through on not striking."
Asked if Israel would indeed respect the "no-strike" zones, Levy told Newsweek there would be "no hiding place, no refuge for any Hamas terrorists."
"International law is designed to mitigate the horrors of war. It is designed to make nations fight with one hand tied behind their backs, absolutely correctly; that is what it should do. It does not force nations to fight with both hands tied behind their backs, and it does not grant immunity to terrorists just because they choose to operate out of protected facilities."
The U.S., Levy added, "sees eye-to-eye" with Israel about "the strategic objectives of this war," which he said "cannot end with Hamas still standing simply because it is choosing to hide behind women and children."
"We're learning from the United States as well," Levy said. "As part of the assistance we've been getting from the Americans, there's been an ongoing military dialogue with their generals as well, where we're learning about what they did in Mosul and Raqqah," the spokesperson added, referring to the U.S. campaign against the ISIS militant group in Iraq and Syria.
An Israeli artillery unit near the border with the Gaza Strip on December 5, 2023. Fighting has resumed after a brief ceasefire.
The southern operation, Levy warned, "is going to be difficult, militarily."
"We are talking about armed battalions of Hamas fighters, and our soldiers are having to engage them in close-quarter fighting. That's why we've seen over 400 military casualties, the vast majority in the initial onslaught on October 7."
The IDF has so far acknowledged 86 deaths in its Gaza incursion.
"Our strategy is to go after the entirety of Hamas terror infrastructure, wherever it is, none of it will be immune," Levy said. "We're trying to get civilians out of harm's way. Now that is challenging under circumstances in which Hamas is urging people to stay and martyr themselves, in some cases, is physically preventing people from leaving."
"The challenge of protecting civilians is intense. It is upsetting for us that sometimes our efforts to protect civilians are mocked or discarded or discounted."
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