Hamas ‘replenishing’ weapons stockpiles, recruits in Gaza: Monitors
US-based defence think tanks, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said Hamas will likely use the end of Israel’s “intense phase” of ground operations in Gaza to “reconstitute its combat units” and reassert “governing authority”.
Israel’s Army Radio announced on Tuesday that Israeli forces will transition to raid operations once they have declared Hamas defeated in Rafah, which the military says will happen in the coming days.
However, the latest battlefield report by ISW/CTP points out that thousands of Palestinian fighters departed Rafah prior to the Israeli ground incursion and these forces could provide the “human resources to reorganise themselves into composite, fully combat effective units”.
The think tanks, which have previously noted the limitations of Israeli raids, reiterated the limited effectiveness of the plan in Gaza.
“Hamas is capable of regrouping in the Gaza Strip in the absence of sustained military pressure and a viable alternative to its rule. Raids can temporarily disrupt but will not stop a reconstitution process,” the ISW/CTP report states.
Israeli shelling kills, injures people in Gaza City: Report
Israeli forces have shelled several areas of Gaza City, killing and wounding an unknown number of people, reports the Wafa news agency.
The attacks targeted the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun, Sabra and Tal al-Hawa. Towards the centre of the Strip, Israeli artillery hit the eastern party of Bureij refugee camp, as well as farmland west of Nuseirat.
Death toll from Israeli air strike on home in Beit Lahiya rises to 15
We have reported earlier that Israel’s air strike had levelled to the ground the Abu Awad family home in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya town, killing four people.
Al Jazeera’s team on the ground now says the death toll reached 15 and rescuers are still working to pull victims from under the rubble. Gaza’s Department of Medical Services said that about 40 people, mostly women and children, were inside the house when it was struck.
Palestinians and civil defense teams take part in the search and rescue operations after Israeli airstrike hit residential building in Beit Lahia, Gaza
Civil defence rescues 13 people from bombed home in Gaza City’s Daraj area
Gaza’s Civil defence says its crews have responded to the scene of a bombed home in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood. The rescuers have managed to pull 13 people alive from the home, located on Jaffa street, the announcement said on Telegram.
