Nine Israeli soldiers killed in ambush, support for Hamas grows in West Bank
By Wafaa Shurafa and Jack Jeffery
Updated December 14, 2023 — 5.25pmfirst published at 6.13am
Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip: Palestinian militants carried out one of the deadliest single attacks on Israeli soldiers since the Gaza invasion began, killing at least nine in an urban ambush, the Israeli military said, a sign of the stiff resistance Hamas still poses despite more than two months of devastating bombardment.
The ambush in a dense neighbourhood came after repeated recent claims by the military that it had broken Hamas’ command structure in northern Gaza, encircled remaining pockets of fighters, killed thousands of militants and detained hundreds more.
Israeli soldiers prepare to enter the Gaza Strip, at a staging area near the Israeli-Gaza border.CREDIT:AP
The tenacious fighting underscores how far Israel appears to be from its aim of destroying Hamas – even after the military unleashed one of the 21st century’s most destructive onslaughts. Israel’s air and ground assault has killed more than 18,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health officials. Gaza City and surrounding towns have been pounded to ruins. Nearly 1.9 million people have been driven from their homes.
Israeli troops are still locked in heavy combat with Palestinian fighters in and around Gaza City, more than six weeks after invading Gaza’s north following the militants’ October 7 attack, when about 1200 Israelis were killed.
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“It’s terrifying. We couldn’t sleep,” Mustafa Abu Taha, a Palestinian agricultural worker who lives in the neighbourhood, said by phone. “The situation is getting worse, and we don’t have a safe place to go.”
The ambush took place in Shijaiyah, where troops searching a cluster of buildings lost communication with four soldiers who had come under fire, the military said. When the other soldiers launched a rescue operation, they were ambushed with heavy gunfire and explosives.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “very difficult day” but he rejected international calls for a ceasefire.
“We are continuing until the end, there is no question. I say this even given the great pain and the international pressure. Nothing will stop us, we will continue until the end, until victory, nothing less,” he told military commanders.
Cyber fight
Israel’s army website was briefly hacked on Wednesday by a pro-Palestinian group that warned of more attacks against Israeli forces, including further cyberattacks.
In a short letter that covered the main page of the website, the group, calling itself “Anonymous Jo”, said the military’s “arrogance and injustice toward our people in Gaza will only harm you through terror, killing and war, whether by land, air or electronically”.
The letter went on to call for the “liberation of Palestine”. The army confirmed the hack.
Little is known about Anonymous Jo, although the group or individual behind the attack indicated that they were of Jordanian origin.
“From your brothers in Jordan to our people in Gaza and Palestine,” one of the lines read. Jordan, which borders the occupied West Bank, has a large Palestinian population and the public is very sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians.
Sanctions
France’s Foreign Ministry said a meeting focusing on finding ways to sanction Hamas was held Wednesday in Paris in the presence of “international partners”, without providing details about participants.
The meeting discussed “concrete actions to be taken against this terrorist group” and “ways of increasing international coordination,” it said in a statement. Participants discussed ways to combat Hamas financing, strengthen sanctions targeting the group and its members, as well as the effective implementation of the standards of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), including the control of risks relating to the use of cryptocurrencies, the statement said.
Participants also discussed how to combat content spread online by Hamas and reiterated the importance of “robust regulatory mechanisms”.
Opinion Poll
A wartime opinion poll among Palestinians published overnight showed a rise in support for Hamas, which appeared to have ticked up even in the devastated Gaza Strip, and an overwhelming rejection of Western-backed West Bank-based President Mahmoud Abbas, with nearly 90 per cent saying he must resign.
The findings by a Palestinian pollster signal more difficulties ahead for the Biden administration’s post-war vision for Gaza and raise questions about Israel’s stated goal of ending Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.
Washington has called for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, currently led by Abbas, to eventually assume control of Gaza and run both territories as a precursor to statehood. US officials have said the PA must be revitalised, without letting on whether this would mean leadership changes.
Despite the devastation, 57 per cent of respondents in Gaza and 82 per cent in the West Bank believe Hamas was correct in launching the October 7 attack, the poll indicated. A large majority believed Hamas’ claims that it acted to defend a major Islamic shrine in Jerusalem against Jewish extremists and win the release of Palestinian prisoners. Only 10 per cent said they believed Hamas has committed war crimes, with a large majority saying they did not see videos showing the militants committing atrocities.
The survey was conducted from November 22 to December 2 among 1231 people in the West Bank and Gaza and had an error margin of 4 percentage points. In Gaza, poll workers conducted 481 in-person interviews during a weeklong ceasefire that ended December 1.
Heavy rain swamped tent camps in Gaza’s south, where Israel has told people to seek refuge, even as that region has also come under daily bombardment.
In the central city of Deir al-Balah, the storm brought cold winds and flooded a shelter area behind a hospital, sending torrents of water coursing between the tents. “The situation is catastrophic,” said Ibrahim Arafat, a father of 13 who fled Shijaiyah.
A displaced Palestinian child amid tents in the town of Khan Younis.CREDIT:AP
Because of the fighting and Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the healthcare system and humanitarian aid operations have collapsed in large parts of the territory, and aid workers have warned of starvation and the spread of disease among displaced people.
Israel invaded southern Gaza nearly two weeks ago, and heavy fighting has continued in its first target – the city of Khan Younis. Israeli strikes overnight hit two residential buildings in and around the city.
A strike on a home near the main highway between Khan Younis and the southern border town of Rafah killed two boys, aged 2 and 8, a woman in her 80s and a woman in her 30s, according to Mohammed al-Beiyouk, a relative of the deceased. Another strike killed a baby and his grandfather, according to hospital records at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
The military rarely comments on individual strikes. Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high toll on Hamas because it conceals fighters, tunnels and weapons in residential areas.
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