Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip
Credit: ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES
The Israeli army signalled that it has wrapped up major combat in northern Gaza, saying it has “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’s command structure there.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that the terror group’s fighters are now only operating sporadically and “without commanders” in the area.
He added that Israel had killed around 8,000 Hamas fighters in northern Gaza, a figure which the Telegraph was unable to independently verify.
IDF troops are now focused on dismantling Hamas in south and central Gaza and strengthening defences along the Israel-Gaza border fence, Mr Hagari said.
In recent weeks, Israel had already been scaling back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressing its offensive in the territory’s south, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians are being squeezed into smaller areas amid a mounting humanitarian disaster.
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7 January 2024 • 9:41am
9:39AM
Six Palestinians and Israeli police officer killed in West Bank clashes
Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday, and an Israeli police officer was killed, Israeli officials said.
Israel said its aircraft fired on Palestinian militants who had attacked troops in the city of Jenin. The Palestinian ministry said the strike targeted people who had gathered at the site. Eyewitnesses said the attack happened as Israeli forces were withdrawing.
Four of those killed were brothers, according to family members.
Mujahid Nazzal, a Palestinian doctor and first responder at the scene, told Reuters one of the dead was hit directly by a missile and the strike also seriously wounded a seventh person.
Another witness, Ahmed Suleiman, said, “Blood and body parts scattered everywhere.”
People inspect the site where six Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday
Credit: Majdi Mohammed/AP
An Israeli border police officer was killed and others wounded when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device during operations in Jenin, the Israeli military and police said.
The Jenin Brigade, an armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack on the Israeli security forces.
The West Bank had already seen its highest levels of unrest in decades during the 18 months before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant Hamas group that rules Gaza.
Confrontations in the West Bank have risen sharply since Israeli forces launched their retaliatory offensive on Gaza, seeking to wipe out Hamas.
9:28AM
Israeli civilian killed in West Bank shooting attack
An Israeli civilian was shot dead on Sunday in the West Bank, the army said, in the latest incident to rock the occupied territory where deadly violence has surged.
The civilian was “killed adjacent to the British police junction” north of Ramallah, the army said, adding police were searching for the attacker.
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