Last updated: 16.01.2024, 08:42 a.m.
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Israeli soldiers are deployed during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. © Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
The intense phase of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip is coming to an end, says Defense Minister Galant. Meanwhile, there is growing concern that the war could spread to the entire region. The overview.
Tel Aviv/Gaza/Tehran - The intensive hostilities of the Israeli armed forces against the Islamist Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip have ended, according to the Ministry of Defense. In the south of the cordoned-off coastal strip in the area of the city of Khan Yunis, the intensive phase of the ground offensive will soon be over, the newspaper "The Times of Israel" quoted Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant as saying.
"At the end of the war, there will be no military threat from the Gaza Strip. Hamas will not be able to control the Gaza Strip and act as a military force. The Israel Defense Forces will have full freedom of action to do whatever is necessary to defend the citizens of Israel," Galant said. "It may take a long time, but this is how it will end - with total victory."
Even though the period of intense fighting will soon end, the armed forces must maintain military pressure to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip. "If the fire ceases, the fate of the hostages will be sealed for many years in Hamas captivity," Galant said. "Without military pressure, no one will talk to us. Only from a position of strength can the hostages be freed."
In view of the numerous civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, international pressure on Israel to at least reduce the intensity of the attacks had recently increased. For weeks, Washington has been pushing to move from the intense phase of heavy bombing to more targeted strikes against the Islamist Hamas. Axios reported that U.S. President Joe Biden is "increasingly frustrated" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rejection of most of the U.S. government's recent requests for the Gaza war.
Continued concern about the expansion of the war
Following rocket attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guards on targets in Iraq and Syria, there is growing international concern about the expansion of the Gaza war into the entire region. In view of repeated confrontations between the Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah on the border between Lebanon and Israel, UN Secretary-General António Guterres had previously warned of a conflagration.
The attacks by the Houthi rebels from Yemen on shipping in the Red Sea also have the potential to draw more and more parties into the conflict. The Houthis, like the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, belong to the so-called "Axis of Resistance", a network in the fight against Israel.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards are shelling targets in Iraq and Syria
Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said they fired several ballistic missiles at targets in Iraq and Syria. The attacks are revenge for, among other things, the devastating attack in the southern Iranian city of Kerman at the beginning of January and the killing of a high-ranking IRGC officer at the end of December, the IRGC web portal said in the night (local time).
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The target of the attack in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil was a spy center of the Israeli secret service Mossad. According to eyewitnesses, several rockets landed near a new US consulate under construction. According to security sources, four civilians were killed. The U.S. government condemned the Iranian missile attack on Erbil. According to Iran, the attack in Syria was aimed at the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).
According to the state news agency Irna, the shelling was the country's most far-reaching missile operation to date, with a distance of more than 1200,<> kilometers. This should also be a clear signal to the arch-enemy Israel. It would be about the same distance that rockets would need from the west of the country to reach Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
UN Secretary-General worried about escalation of Gaza war
With regard to the situation on the border between Israel and Lebanon, UN chief Guterres had already expressed great concern about an extension of the Gaza war to the wider region. "I am deeply concerned by what is unfolding," Guterres said. "It is my duty to convey this simple and direct message to all sides: stop playing with fire at the blue line, de-escalate and bring the violence to an end."
The blue line marks the border between Israel and Lebanon. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there have been repeated confrontations between the Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. It is allied with Hamas, but is considered much more powerful. In addition to an immediate ceasefire, Guterres reiterated his call for the release of all hostages and an investigation into the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas and others in the October 7 massacre.
Hamas Releases Hostage Video - Concern for the Lives of the Abductees
Hamas again released gruesome video footage of Israeli hostages. The video included a young woman talking about the alleged deaths of two male abductees in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said afterwards that they were very concerned for the lives of the two male hostages. He rejected Hamas' claim that they had been killed by the Israeli side. At the end of the Hamas video, a bloody male corpse can be seen.
For more than 100 days, the Israeli military has been fighting the Islamist Hamas in Gaza. Could the war spread to the entire region? © Omar Ishaq/dpa
More than three months after the October 7 massacre, in which Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists killed more than 1200,250 people in often bestial ways and abducted some 136 more to the Gaza Strip, <> people are still being held in the coastal strip. Israel estimates that about two dozen of them are no longer alive.
Houthis attack freighters in the Red Sea again, according to US statements
The Yemeni Houthis again attacked a container ship in the Red Sea, according to US sources. The U.S. military's regional command said the rebels fired an anti-ship ballistic missile at the M/V Gibraltar Eagle. It was shot down from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. According to the information, the ship was a US freighter sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands. There were no injuries or damage.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak justified the airstrikes against the Houthi rebels and threatened new actions if ships in the Red Sea continued to be attacked. "The threat to shipping must stop," Sunak told parliament in London. "Illegally detained ships and crews must be released. And we remain prepared to put our money where our mouth is." dpa