KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: Israel said Tuesday that its ground forces were battling Hamas fighters deep inside Gaza’s largest city, signaling a major new stage in the month-old conflict, and its leaders foresee controlling the enclave’s security after the war.
The push into Gaza City guarantees that the already staggering death toll will rise further, while comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about controlling Gaza’s security for “an indefinite period” pointed to the uncertain endgame of a war that Israel says will be long and difficult.
GAZA/JERUSALEM: Israel’s ground forces in the Gaza Strip aimed on Wednesday to locate and disable Hamas militants’ vast tunnel network beneath the enclave, the next phase in an Israeli offensive that has killed thousands of Palestinians.
Since Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people and took some 240 hostages in an Oct. 7 cross-border gun rampage, Israel has pounded Gaza from the air and used ground troops to divide the coastal enclave in two.
RIYADH: Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces will commit to facilitating humanitarian aid and implement trust-building measures, a joint statement by Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the regional African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development said on Tuesday.
Talks in Jeddah remain focused on a specific set of objectives including facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance, establishing ceasefires and other confidence-building measures, and working toward a permanent cessation of hostilities, the statement said.