Israel was pushing military operations further into the southern Gaza Strip, with reports of strikes on Monday night hitting the territory’s second-largest city as the war against Hamas ramped up again following a week-long truce.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, called for greater protection of civilians during a visit to Gaza — where fatalities on Tuesday stand at about 15,900, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The head of the World Health Organization said Israel ordered it to empty medical warehouses in the southern Gaza Strip, sounding the alarm about an impending humanitarian crisis as Israeli forces expand their war against Hamas. Israel rejected the charge.

Latest developments

• Turkey warns Israel against killing Hamas targets on its soil
• US warns Iran-backed Houthis after Red Sea shipping attacks 
• Austin warns of risk for Israel over civilian deaths in Gaza
• Israel grinds war south as US monitors Gaza civilian deaths

Israel ‘would consider another pause’ to free hostages

Securing the release of all those seized by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October remains an aim of the war alongside destroying the Islamist militant group, Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesperson, said on Tuesday.

“A temporary pause to get them out” would be considered, he told the Jerusalem Press Club.

During the seven-day ceasefire that ended on 1 December, Hamas returned 110 of the more than 240 people taken when its militants swarmed out of Gaza and killed about 1,200 people. In exchange, about three times as many Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel.

The ceasefire came to an end, Israel said, when Hamas reneged on an agreement to return all women and children. Hamas, which is classified as a terror group by the US and the European Union, still holds 20 women, two boys and 115 men, Israel has said. It’s unclear if all of them are alive.

Levy also defended Israel’s record in protecting civilians as criticism mounts over its air strikes and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, in which almost 16,000 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The military was giving advance warnings of strikes, conceding the element of surprise, he said.

“It’s upsetting that our attempts to protect civilians are mocked or discarded,” he said. “We would like to seek greater appreciation for the efforts Israel is making to protect civilians.”

While the Israeli air force continues to play a key role in the war as the military moves its focus to the south of Gaza, the next phase of the conflict would be characterised by “close-quarter fighting” with Hamas battalions, he said.

Levy appeared to confirm government plans that Hamas leaders would be targeted for assassination wherever they are, including in Qatar and Turkey.

“Every Hamas terrorist is a dead man walking,” Levy said. “We will go to the ends of the Earth to bring to justice people who want to perpetrate genocidal violence against the Jewish people.”

Israel grinds war south as US monitors Gaza civilian deaths

Israel was pushing military operations further into the southern Gaza Strip, with reports of strikes on Monday night hitting the territory’s second-largest city as the war against Hamas ramped up again following a week-long truce.

The stepped-up fighting came after increased warnings from the US that Israel must curtail civilian deaths in Gaza and that the destruction seen in the north shouldn’t be repeated in the drive south to root out the group.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday evening that the ground offensive had expanded throughout the Gaza Strip, including hand-to-hand combat in some areas of the north.

The offensive was going “house to house, tunnel to tunnel,” the spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said in a briefing. He made no reference to Washington’s admonitions about casualties, but said targets were based on “precise” intelligence.

Southern Gaza was hit by airstrikes, including about 200 targets overnight, while rockets were fired toward Israel from Gaza. The attacks came hours after the IDF urged those who fled south to evacuate once again, deepening concern for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had escaped from the north.

Meanwhile, the flow of information from the territory has been hampered by the loss of internet and mobile services. Paltel, the main Palestinian telecommunications operator, said its services for the entire strip are offline.

Israel, WHO trade accusations over medical warehouses in Gaza

The head of the World Health Organization said Israel ordered it to empty medical warehouses in the southern Gaza Strip, sounding the alarm about an impending humanitarian crisis as Israeli forces expand their war against Hamas. Israel rejected the charge.

The WHO got an order that it should remove supplies from its two medical warehouses in the southern Gaza Strip within 24 hours “as ground operations will put them beyond use,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on the X social media site.

“We appeal to Israel to withdraw the order, and take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities,” Ghebreyesus wrote.

Israel denied that it asked the WHO to evacuate the warehouses, saying on X that it refuted that allegation “to the relevant #UN representatives”.

Israel has called for people to evacuate areas in southern Gaza, warning that its attacks there will be just as fierce as in the north, where much of the civilian infrastructure has been levelled. In unusually frank comments over the weekend, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had pushed Israel to avoid civilian casualties, warning against replacing “a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”

Sheryl Sandberg asks UN to denounce Hamas’ 7 October violence against women

Meta Platforms’ former chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg went to the United Nations on Monday to add pressure to a campaign asking members of the international body to condemn violent sexual acts committed by Hamas, calling incidents during the 7 October attacks on Israel “war crimes.”

“Silence is complicity,” Sandberg said at an event on gender-based violence arranged by Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan. Other high-profile speakers at the event included Hillary Clinton, who participated remotely.

UN Women, the organisation’s gender equality arm, issued a statement on 1 December that some activists criticised as late and weak. UN Women didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

In an interview after the speech, Sandberg reflected on why she felt compelled to speak up about the attacks when many other business leaders have tried to keep quiet — at least publicly — on the conflict.

“Since leaving Meta a year ago, I was enjoying my relatively quiet life, and did not have plans to speak out,” she said. “But then October 7th happened and I watched what was being said and what wasn’t being said in the world.”

Sandberg said, “The evidence is so clear — you can’t argue with it,” referring to videos, photos and testimonials that have emerged since the attack by Hamas, which the US and European Union have designated a terrorist organisation.

At the Monday event, first responders and videotaped eyewitnesses spoke of women who were mutilated in the attack by Hamas, recounting people whose breasts had been amputated and women shot in the genitals.

“I think a lot of people believe that it’s politics, a lot of people believe it’s anti-Semitism — I’m just hoping it’s over,” Sandberg said, referring to why groups have remained quiet about the issue of sexual violence.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, expressed her dismay at the lack of condemnations of Hamas’ use of rape as a weapon of war. “I nearly choked,” she said, when she saw a list of women’s organisations which hadn’t issued statements. “Where is the solidarity?” DM

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