Israeli army raids multiple cities in West Bank
While Gaza reports 200 deaths since end of truce

WORLD  02 December 2023 - 11:18

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is conducting raids in Palestinian towns in the West Bank, Al Jazeera reports.

According to the TV channel, Israeli troops stormed the city of Hebron. There is no information about casualties or arrests.

As reported by the agency WAFA, the IDF stormed the city of al-Bira. The agency notes that the Israeli military carried out several raids on residential houses near the settlement. The same applies to the village of al-Mazra al-Gharbiya, which is northwest of Ramallah.

According to Al Mayadeen, armed clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army are taking place in the town of Yatta. TV station's correspondent says that IDF soldiers have surrounded the town from the north and south sides. The Israeli military is also conducting a raid in the town of Qalqiliya near the West Bank border.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Ministry of Health reported about 200 residents of the Gaza Strip who died as a result of Israeli bombardment, which resumed after the ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave. 

"From Friday morning until now, 178 people have been killed as a result of Israeli aggression in Gaza," the Health Ministry said in a statement published on its Facebook page. The ministry noted that 589 people were injured. Most of the injured are women and teenagers.

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell said that the Gaza Strip has again become the most dangerous place for children and called on the parties to the conflict to do everything possible to protect them.

"Today, Gaza has again become the most dangerous place for children. Winter is on the doorstep. All parties to the conflict must do everything possible to protect the lives and well-being of all children, wherever they are. Children should no longer be killed in this conflict," Russell's post on social network X (formerly Twitter) reads.

In the morning of December 1, the Israel Defence Forces accused the Palestinian movement Hamas of violating the truce and announced that it was resuming hostilities in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian authorities held the US responsible for the resumption of Israeli aggression.

White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby confirmed that the United States is working with the authorities of Israel, Egypt and Qatar to resume the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip and accused the Palestinian Hamas movement of disrupting the truce.

"I am glad that we continue to cooperate with Israel, Egypt and Qatar in trying to resume the humanitarian pause in Gaza. But let's be clear - the pause ended precisely because of Hamas, they simply did not provide a list of hostages, which would have allowed the truce to be extended," he said in an online briefing.

The Israeli authorities announced their intention to form a buffer zone on the territory of the enclave for security purposes after the completion of the operation in the Gaza Strip.

Thus, the Kan TV and Radio Corporation learned from two sources that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken about it on November 30. Washington had previously insisted that the sector's territory should not shrink after the operation.

Israeli TV channel i24 reports that Israel has notified Egypt, Jordan and the UAE of the plans for the buffer zone. The information was also passed to Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

Israel and Hamas still continue negotiations on the release of the remaining hostages.

According to the sources, once the women are released, other categories of abductees - men in civilian occupations as well as those eligible for mobilization into Israeli forces, regardless of gender - will quickly become the focus of negotiations.

According to media reports, Hamas was unable to provide Israel with another list of hostages satisfactory to it. Hamas claimed that some of the female hostages were reservists, a position Israel rejected. Hamas previously said it would consider all women under 45 to be reservists, someone who could be mobilized for emergency service, not just civilians; and most of the women it has left in captivity are under that age. There is also speculation that some of the women and children taken hostage are in the hands of other groups in Gaza.

According to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, there are still at least 137 hostages in Gaza, including 20 women and two children.

Caliber.Az