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“BALL OF FIRE”
Gaza health authorities say close to 19,000 people have been confirmed killed, with thousands more feared buried under rubble.
Gaza residents reported another night of intense fighting and bombardment the length of the enclave on Friday, including in Sheijaia, Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, Tuffah, and Beit Hanoun in the north, and in the centre and northern fringes of the main southern city Khan Younis.
Hospitals in Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah reported a new influx of dead and wounded early on Friday.
“The Gaza Strip turned into a ball of fire overnight, we could hear explosions and gunshots echoing from all directions,” Ahmed, 45, an electrician and father of six, told Reuters from a shelter in a central area of the densely populated enclave.
“They can destroy homes and roads and kill civilians from the air or through blind tank shelling, but when they come face to face with the resistance, they lose. We don’t have anything to lose after all they had done to our Gaza,” he said.
Washington has shielded its long-term ally diplomatically so far, including vetoing a UN Security Council resolution a week ago, but Biden’s strong remarks this week were a clear shift in tone. The three-week timeline to transition to targeted operations, cited by the New York Times, would mean the broad ground war being scaled back in the early days of 2024.
The past two weeks have seen an intensification of combat since a week-long truce collapsed at the start of December, with Israel now extending its ground campaign from the northern half of the enclave into the south.
Although Israel had said its forces had largely achieved their objectives in the north, fighting there has only worsened, while also spreading to the south, where most of the population is now sheltering. The vast majority of Gazans have been driven from their homes over the past two months, many several times.
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