Tag: israel-hamas war

JERUSALEM — A battle that killed dozens of civilians and more than a dozen Israeli soldiers nearly a decade ago offers a glimpse of the type of fighting that could lie ahead if Israeli forces roll into Gaza as expected to punish Hamas for its rampage across southern Israel last week.

It was July 19, 2014, during Israel’s third war against Hamas. The target was Shijaiyah, a densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City that the army said Hamas had transformed into a “terrorist fortress,” filled with tunnels, rocket launchers and booby traps.

The battle came on the third day of a ground offensive that had been preceded by a 10-day air campaign. Then, as now, Palestinian civilians had been told to leave the neighborhood. Then, as now, many stayed, either because Hamas told them to or because they had nowhere else to go.

As Israeli forces pushed into Shijaiyah, a jumble of squat concrete buildings and narrow alleys, militants unleashed a withering barrage of automatic gunfire, anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades, the army said at the time.

An armored personnel carrier broke down. When two soldiers got out to fix it, a militant fired an anti-tank missile at the vehicle, blowing it up and killing all seven soldiers inside. In the ensuing chaos, Hamas fighters managed to drag away the remains of one of the soldiers and are still holding them.

In the panicked aftermath, soldiers were ordered to climb into their armored vehicles as artillery battalions fired 600 shells and aircraft struck from overhead. The next day, Israeli warplanes dropped 100 one-ton bombs on the area, Israeli media reported later.

“The gate of hell has opened, and shrapnel came through the windows,” a Palestinian resident told the AP at the time.

In 2014, “there was a feeling of craziness in how much fire was used,” an Israeli soldier told Breaking the Silence, a group of veterans who are critical of Israel’s policies and collect anonymous testimony from soldiers.

Fifty-five civilians were killed during the two-day battle, including 19 children and 14 women, a U.N. report found, as well as an unknown number of militants. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed.

Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general who was serving alongside top commanders during the 2014 battle, said this time would be “completely different,” because the artillery and airstrikes will come first.

“It will be a massive maneuver with a lot of air and artillery — a very, very strong entrance. We’re going to try to minimize as much as possible our troops’ casualties, and for this, we need a lot of cover.” He said less firepower would be needed if it is used at the start and not when soldiers are in distress.

The tremendous firepower may have stemmed the army’s losses, but it took a heavy toll on civilians and flattened much of the neighborhood. Some 670 buildings were destroyed and nearly 1,200 were moderately to severely damaged, the U.N. report said. Investigators counted 270 craters.

“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” then-Secretary of State John Kerry said sarcastically about the battle, in a moment caught on a hot mic.

Israel has ordered an unprecedented evacuation of nearly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians from the northern part of the besieged territory to the south. Avivi, the retired general, said that is intended to spare them. But not everyone is able or willing to flee.

“When the artillery will start, those who haven’t evacuated yet will evacuate,” he said.

The U.N. report found “strong indications” that the Shijaiyah operation involved indiscriminate fire that “may amount to a war crime.” The International Criminal Court is investigating possible war crimes committed by both sides during the 2014 war.

Israel, which has long accused U.N. bodies of being biased against it, refused to cooperate with either probe.

The war continued for more than a month after Shijaiyah, through similarly destructive battles. It ended with a shaky truce and Hamas still firmly in control despite the deaths of 2,251 Palestinians — mostly civilians — and widespread destruction. On the Israeli side, 74 people were killed, including six civilians.

In 2021 the two sides fought another devastating war, though there was no ground invasion.

And then on Oct. 7, a still unbowed Hamas stormed out of Gaza and rampaged through southern Israel, killing hundreds and dragging some 200 hostages back into the narrow, coastal territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also in power in 2014, has vowed to destroy Hamas. The group’s leaders say they are prepared for all scenarios.

Israel has promised a “very broad” air, ground and naval offensive in the near future. It has massed tanks and tens of thousands of troops along the Gaza border.

If they move in, Shijaiyah will be among their first targets.

More than a million people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected Israel invasion that seeks to eliminate Hamas’ leadership after its deadly incursion. Aid groups warn an Israeli ground offensive could hasten a humanitarian crisis.

Israeli forces, supported by U.S. warships, positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group. A week of blistering airstrikes have demolished neighborhoods but failed to stop militant rocket fire into Israel.

The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 155 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.

Currently:

1. Water has run out at U.N. shelters across Gaza and overwhelmed doctors at the territory’s largest hospital struggled to care for patients they fear will die once generators run out of fuel.

2. Israel’s military said it would not target a specific route south for several hours, again urging Palestinians to leave the north en masse. The military offered two corridors and a longer window the day before. It says hundreds of thousands have already fled south.

3. An urban battle during Israel’s 2014 war against Hamas offers a glimpse of the type of fighting that could lie ahead.

Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

BAGHDAD — The World Health Organization said lifesaving assistance, including health supplies to serve 300,000 patients, is awaiting entry through the Rafah crossing into Gaza.

The crossing was closed because of airstrikes earlier in the war, and U.S. has been trying to broker a deal to reopen the crossing to allow foreigners to leave and allow in humanitarian aid amassed on the Egyptian side.

The WHO, in comments to The Associated Press, reiterated calls for the immediate and safe delivery of medical supplies, fuel, clean water and food, and other humanitarian aid into Gaza through Rafah crossing.

It expressed concern about limited water and sanitation in the territory, particularly at hospitals where patients’ lives can be lost due to infection and disease outbreaks. WHO said four hospitals in northern Gaza are no longer functioning as a result of damage and 21 hospitals are under an Israeli evacuation order.

BANGKOK – A Thai Air Force plane carrying 130 evacuees from Israel arrived early Monday in Bangkok.

The evacuation flight on an Airbus A340, carrying 127 men, two women and a girl, was the first of of a planned six flights by Thailand’s air force. Small batches of evacuees had previously arrived on commercial flights.

As of Saturday, 7,058 Thais in Israel had registered for voluntary repatriation, while 83 indicated their intention to remain in Israel, according to the Thai Foreign Ministry. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Sunday that 28 Thais are reported to have been killed in the attack on southern Israel by Hamas, and another 17 abducted.

There are about 30,000 Thai workers in Israel, mostly employed as agricultural laborers, and some 5,000 had been working in the area that was affected by the violence.

OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canadian government has confirmed the death of a fifth citizen in Israel after a series of attacks by Hamas militants.

Separately, Canadians in the besieged Gaza Strip have no way to leave.

Global Affairs Canada says three other Canadians who were in Israel when the attacks happened Oct. 7 are still missing. Officials did not provide details of the fifth person who died or those who are missing, citing privacy considerations.

Julie Sunday, an assistant deputy minister with Global Affairs Canada, says the government is still working to get up to 300 Canadians and their relatives out of Gaza as Israel gears up for an expected ground invasion.

JERUSALEM — The U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency says Gaza “is being strangled” and the number of people seeking shelter at their schools and facilities in the south of the territory is overwhelming.

“If we look at the issue of water — we all know water is life — Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA at a news conference in Jerusalem on Sunday.

“Soon, I believe, with this there will be no food or medicine either,” he said.

“Last week’s attack on Israel was horrendous,” he said. “The attack and the taking of hostages are a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. But the answer to killing civilians cannot be to kill more civilians.”

At least 1 million people were forced to flee their homes in northern Gaza. At least 400,000 displaced people are crammed into UNRWA schools and buildings, and most are not equipped as emergency shelters. Conditions are unsanitary and appalling.

Most of the agency’s 13,000 staff in the Gaza Strip are now displaced or out of their homes, said Lazzarini.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department says the number of Americans killed since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas has risen to 30.

“At this time, we can confirm the deaths of 30 U.S. citizens. We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected,” the State Department said in a statement released Sunday. The U.S. is also aware of 13 missing citizens and has been in contact with their families.

Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7 and murdered more than 1,400 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians. The militants also kidnapped at least 155 people — a number that includes babies and the elderly — and are holding them hostage in Gaza. Their whereabouts are not publicly known, but their families have been urgently pressing for their release.

“The U.S. government is working around the clock to determine their whereabouts and is working with the Israeli government on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to advise the Israeli government on hostage recovery efforts,” the statement said.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,670 Palestinians have been killed so far.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned Sunday that the Middle East is “on the verge of the abyss” and repeated his entreaties for Hamas to release hostages and for Israel to allow humanitarian aid and workers into besieged Gaza.

“Each one of these two objectives are valid in themselves. They should not become bargaining chips,” the U.N. chief said in a statement.

He said the U.N. has food, water, fuel and medical and other supplies stockpiled in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel, ready to be mobilized to Gaza if it can be done safely.

The goods can be dispatched within hours, he said.

BEIRUT — An Israeli drone fired two missiles late Sunday evening at a hill west of the town of Kfar Kila in south Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported. There were no casualties reported in the strikes, which hit near a Lebanese army center.

The Israeli army posted on the X social media platform that it had hit Hezbollah targets but did not specify what they were.

Cross-border clashes between armed factions in Lebanon and Israel intensified Sunday, with Hezbollah firing rockets and Israeli forces responding with shelling. The Israeli army also reported a shooting at one of its border posts. The fighting has killed at least one person on the Israeli side and wounded several on both sides of the border.

Hezbollah said in a statement Sunday that it had fired rockets towards an Israeli military position in the northern border town Shtula in retaliation for Israeli shelling that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah on Friday and two Lebanese civilians on Saturday.