Gaza death toll passes 22,000 as Israel steps up war against Hamas

The death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza has climbed to more than 22,000 after a day of intense fighting across the territory, including in the southern city of Khan Younis, where the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) said five people had been killed in a second Israeli attack on its compound.

The day after Israel announced the first drawdown of troops from Gaza, there was no sign of relief for its residents, who after three months of heavy bombardment and weeks of ground fighting, are almost all displaced, hungry and stalked by disease.

In Beirut, an Israeli drone strike killed the senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri late on January 2 afternoon, marking a significant escalation of the war against Hamas as well as its conflict with Hezbollah.

Nearly three months into the war, no top Hamas figures have been killed or captured in Gaza. On a visit to soldiers stationed there, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the government was planning for a long war.

“The feeling that we will stop soon is incorrect. Without a clear victory, we will not be able to live in the Middle East,” he said, according to the Guardian.

Five Israeli brigades, comprised of several thousand troops, will leave Gaza in the next few weeks. Some for more training or rest, some to return to civilian life and work, which the government hopes will ease pressure on the economy, as it prepares for months of war in Gaza and possibly beyond.

Israeli bombs and the ground assault have now killed at least 22,185 Palestinians, health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said on January 2, with thousands more bodies buried under rubble. The majority of the dead are women and children.

In a sign of Israeli confidence that Hamas’s capacity to launch rockets from the strip has been severely degraded, residents from seven communities near Gaza who were evacuated after the October 7 attacks have been told they can return home soon.