Status: 01.01.2024, 05:48 a.m.
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Hamas fires rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel. © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
While millions of people around the world are celebrating the New Year, the sirens are wailing again in Israel. The country's army is bracing itself for a long war. The overview.
Tel Aviv/Gaza - In Israel, there were again rocket alarms in several cities on New Year's Eve. On the border with the Gaza Strip and in the interior of the country, the sirens had wailed, the Israeli army announced on Monday night. As reported by the Times of Israel newspaper, the Islamist Hamas fired more than 20 rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Most of them were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. According to the rescue service, no injuries were initially reported as a result of the shelling, it said.
Israel Lets Some Reservists Home
Three months after the start of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel's military is now adjusting its troop deployment in anticipation of even more fighting, allowing some reservists to return to civilian life for the time being. "The objectives of the war require a prolonged struggle, and we are preparing accordingly," Israel's army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Sunday evening. According to the Times of Israel, the military believes it is likely that the Gaza war will continue throughout 2024.
"We are adapting our style of warfare and the required forces for each area in the Gaza Strip in order to fulfill the mission in the best possible way, as each area has different characteristics and different operational needs," Hagari said. Some of the reservists will "return to their families and their workplaces" this week. This will relieve Israel's economy and allow the reservists to gather "strength for the upcoming activities" in the new year.
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history on October 7, in which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups murdered around 1200,240 people in Israel and abducted around <> more to the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
Israel's goal is the complete destruction of Hamas. The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza so far rose to 21,822, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. This cannot be independently verified at this time, but the UN and other observers say that the agency's figures have proven to be credible overall in the past. Israel's bombardments have wreaked havoc on the narrow coastal area.
Report: Investigation into Hamas massacre
Israeli investigators, meanwhile, are reconstructing the Oct. 200 massacre on the basis of some 000,2000 photos and videos, as well as 7,1961 testimonies, with the intention of initiating legal proceedings against those responsible, as the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. It is likely to be the most important trial since the trial of Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in Israel in <>, it said. During the Nazi era, he had millions of Jews deported to extermination camps. Eichmann was sentenced to death and hanged.
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Forensic evidence, which the newspaper said was provided by Israeli officials, showed, among other things, that some victims were burned alive. Photos show mutilations of the victims' bodies, including the sexual organs of men and women. The corpses of women and girls showed various signs of sexual violence. Hamas denies killing children and raping women.
Experts: Evidence of torture and executions
Israel has so far identified about 800 civilians murdered on October 7, including 37 minors under the age of 17, six of whom were under the age of five, the newspaper reported. According to the head of the forensic center, computed tomography images showed signs of torture and executions. The terrorists posted videos of killings and kidnappings on their victims' pages on social media, where friends and family members could view them, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Renewed incidents with Houthi rebels
Meanwhile, Yemeni Houthi rebels' attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea have led to a direct confrontation with the U.S. military. The pro-Iranian group attacked a Danish container ship from four small boats with small arms and tried to get onto the ship, the responsible US regional command said on Platform X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday. A security team on board returned fire. U.S. forces then intervened, were attacked themselves and eventually killed several of the rebels, it said.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea with alleged Israeli connections. They also repeatedly attack Israel directly with drones and rockets.
What will be important on Monday
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic. Nevertheless, Israel continues the fighting. Dpa