JERUSALEM, 23 Jan: Palestinian militants carried out the deadliest single attack on Israel\u2019s forces since the Hamas raid that triggered the war, killing 21 soldiers, the military said Tuesday, a significant setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire.
\nHours later, the military announced that ground forces had encircled the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza\u2019s second largest. That marked a major advance, but it was unclear how much closer it would bring Israel to defeating Hamas or freeing Israeli hostages \u2014 two central war aims that have proved increasingly elusive \u2014 as cease-fire talks appear to be gathering pace.
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the soldiers, who died when the blast from a rocket-propelled grenade triggered explosives they were laying. But he vowed to press ahead until \u201cabsolute victory,\u201d even as Israelis are increasingly divided over whether it\u2019s possible to both crush Hamas and free scores of captives.
\nA senior Egyptian official said Israel has proposed a two-month cease-fire in which the hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries.
\nThe official, who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas rejected the proposal and is insisting that no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza. Israel\u2019s government declined to comment on the talks.
\nEgypt and Qatar \u2014 which have brokered past agreements between Israel and Hamas \u2014 were developing a multistage proposal to try to bridge the gaps, the official said. Families of the hostages have called for Israel to reach a deal with Hamas, saying time is running out to bring their relatives home alive.
\nIsrael launched its offensive after Hamas crossed the border Oct. 7, killing over 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others. More than 100 were released in November during a weeklong cease-fire.
\nThe offensive has caused widespread death and destruction, displaced an estimated 85% of Gaza\u2019s 2.3 million people and left one-quarter facing starvation. Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have meanwhile attacked U.S. and Israeli targets in support of the Palestinians.
\nThe U.S. and Britain launched another wave of strikes Monday against Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels, who have targeted international shipping in the Red Sea. Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah group said it fired rockets at a strategic military installation in northern Israel for a second time this month.<\/p>\n
\u2018One Of The Hardest Days\u2019 For Israel
\nIsraeli reservists were preparing explosives on Monday to demolish two buildings in the built-up Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza when a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank nearby. The blast triggered the explosives, causing both two-story buildings to collapse on the soldiers.
\nAt least 217 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began in late October, including three killed in a separate event Monday, according to the military.
\nNetanyahu acknowled-ged on social media that it was \u201cone of the hardest days\u201d of the war but vowed to keep up the offensive.
\n\u201cWe are in the middle of a war that is more than justified. In this war, we are making big achievements, like the encircling of Khan Younis, and there are also very heavy losses,\u201d he later said in a video statement.
\nGaza\u2019s Health Ministry said Tuesday that the bodies of 195 people killed in Israeli strikes were brought to hospitals in the previous 24 hours. Hospitals also received 354 wounded, it said.
\nThe fatalities brought the death toll in the strip to 25,490 since the war began, the ministry said. Another 63,354 were wounded, it added. The ministry\u2019s count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n
Heavy Fighting In Khan Younis
\nIsrael claims to have killed thousands of militants and to have largely defeated Hamas in northern Gaza in operations that caused widespread destruction to that part of the territory, including Gaza City. In recent weeks the offensive has focused on Khan Younis and refugee camps in central Gaza, including Maghazi, that date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel\u2019s creation.
\nThe military said its forces had killed dozens of militants in Khan Younis in recent days and had encircled the city, without providing evidence. It was not possible to independently confirm those claims.
\nRaed al-Nems, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent rescue service, said there was heavy fighting around the city\u2019s Al-Amal Hospital. He said a shell had hit the fourth floor, killing one person and wounding 10 others. Medical teams were unable to enter or exit the hospital, and a territory-wide communication outage had further complicated rescue efforts, he said. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM, 23 Jan: Palestinian militants carried out the deadliest single attack on Israel\u2019s forces since the Hamas raid that triggered the war, killing 21 soldiers, the military said Tuesday, a significant setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire. Hours later, the military announced that ground forces had encircled the southern city of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-233126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}