Israel Strikes Gaza: Hamas Vows Continued Resistance

Gaza medics and rescuers reported on Monday that Israeli attacks on three homes killed at least 18 people, as Hamas maintained it had the resources to fight nearly a year into the conflict.

The new strikes came as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that the chances of a stop in fighting with Hezbollah terrorists along the Lebanon border were dwindling, heightening worries of a larger regional conflict.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP in an interview in Istanbul on Sunday that “the resistance has a high ability to continue.”

“There were martyrs and sacrifices.” However, in return, there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of fresh generations into the struggle.

His statements come less than a week after Gallant informed journalists that Hamas, the group responsible for the October 7 strike that sparked the conflict, “no longer exists” as a military force in Gaza.
On Monday, deadly combat continued in the Gaza Strip, with survivors seen sifting amid the rubble of destroyed structures following a hit on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

A physician at Al-Awda hospital, where the bodies were carried, told AFP that an air attack hit the Al-Qassas family’s home in Nuseirat on Monday morning, killing ten people and injuring 15.

“My house was hit when we were sleeping with no prior notice. There are many martyrs, among them the sons of my family and my young grandchildren.”

According to Rashed al-Qassas, a surviving family member.
According to Gaza’s civil defense service, six Palestinians were killed in a similar air attack overnight on a house belonging to the Bassal family in Gaza City’s Zeitun district, which has been a regular target of Israeli military raids since the conflict began.

Another midnight air attack in Rafah struck the Abu Shaar family’s home, killing two individuals, according to the agency.

Israel-Hezbollah tensions rise
According to an AFP assessment based on official Israeli data, the October 7 bombing that started the war killed 1,205 people, the majority of whom were civilians.

Militants also took 251 captives, 97 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 33 who the Israeli military claims are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military onslaught has killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not provide a split of civilian and terrorist dead.

The conflict has also drawn Iran-backed fighters from around the region, including Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.

Tensions have risen along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, with fears that the violence could escalate into an all-out war.

“The possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas,” Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a phone call.

Exuberantly “reiterated Israel’s commitment to the removal of Hezbollah presence in southern Lebanon, and to enabling the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes” .
Israeli media reported that Amos Hochstein, US President Joe Biden’s special envoy, arrived in Israel on Monday to assist ease tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Since October 7, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah organization has exchanged almost daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces.

Hezbollah deputy head Naim Qassem stated on Saturday that his party has “no intention of going to war,” but that if Israel “unleashes” one, “there will be large losses on both sides.”

According to an AFP calculation, 623 individuals have died in Lebanon as a result of cross-border violence since early October, the majority of them have been fighters.

On the Israeli side, including the occupied Golan Heights, authorities have reported the fatalities of at least 24 military and 26 civilians.
Huthi strike.
Gallant’s warning comes after Yemen’s Huthi rebels claimed a rare missile attack on central Israel on Sunday, resulting in no injuries but pledges of revenge from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“They should have known by now that we charge a high price for any attempt to harm us,” the Israeli Prime Minister stated.

The Huthis claimed to have “penetrated” Israel’s air defenses, but Israel indicated the missile likely fragmented mid-flight but was not destroyed.

In July, a Huthi drone strike killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, which is at least 1,800 miles from Yemen.

It sparked retaliatory strikes, resulting in substantial damage and deaths at Yemen’s rebel-controlled Hodeida port.

Since November, the Huthis have targeted Israel and its perceived interests, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, conducting scores of missile and drone strikes that have hampered world shipping via crucial ports off Yemen.

In a televised broadcast, the Huthis’ leader stated that the rebels and their regional allies were “preparing to do even more”.

“Our operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege against Gaza continue,” Abdul Malik al-Huthi stated.

AFP