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Agence France-Presse

Israel pressed its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday after telling key backer the United States that the war to crush Hamas will last “more than several months”.
The war began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Vowing to destroy Hamas and bring home an estimated 240 hostages taken by militants into Gaza, Israel launched a massive military offensive that has left swathes of the besieged territory in ruins.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the war has killed more than 18,700 people, mostly women and children.

The ministry said early Friday that dozens of people had been killed or injured in Israeli strikes on Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, while witnesses said several people had been killed in air strikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Late Thursday in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, crowds of Palestinians used flashlights to search under the rubble of buildings for survivors following an Israeli strike.
UN General Assembly demands humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
“This is a residential neighbourhood, women and children live here, as you can see. This residential neighbourhood has been reduced to rubble,” said Abu Omar, who is living in Rafah.
“Three missiles on a residential neighbourhood that has nothing to do with any militant activities.”
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops were engaged in fighting with militants in two districts of Gaza City late Thursday.
“There will be more tough battles in the days to come,” he said.
The Israeli military on Friday said a total of 117 troops have died in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive.
It also said the body of a hostage named Elia Toledano, who was among those kidnapped on October 7, had been recovered and returned to Israel.




“We are working together with security agencies, and with all intelligence and operational means in order to return all of the hostages home,” the army said.
While the United States has strongly backed Israel’s response to Hamas’ attacks, it has pressed its ally to do more to minimise civilian casualties.
On Thursday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel suffers heavy losses in Hamas ambush, faces diplomatic isolation
During their meeting, Gallant warned that Israel’s fight with Hamas “will require a period of time - it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them”.
Speaking in Washington, US President Joe Biden urged Israel to take more care to protect civilians in Gaza.
“I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives - not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful,” said Biden, whose government has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid.

White House spokesman John Kirby said Sullivan “did talk about possible transitioning from what we would call high-intensity operations, which is what we’re seeing them do now, to lower intensity operations sometime in the near future,” spokesman John Kirby said. “But I don’t want to put a time stamp on it.”
Kirby said that Washington was “not dictating terms” to Israel but that Sullivan had asked “hard questions” about the course of the offensive, while still backing Israel.
“I think we all want it to end as soon as possible,” Kirby told reporters, adding that the war “could end today” if Hamas backed down but “that doesn’t look likely right now”.
‘Nothing will stop us’: Israel bombs Gaza as rift with US grows
Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to carry on “until victory”, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the war would continue “with or without international support”.
Sullivan on Friday will head to the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority leaders, a US official said on condition of anonymity.
The West Bank, which is ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), has seen a surge in violence since October 7.

There, the Palestinian health ministry said 11 people had been killed since the Israeli military launched a raid in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp earlier this week.
The war in Gaza has led to increased popular support for Hamas in the West Bank, further weakening the internationally recognised PA.
This week, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly supported a non-binding resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, with Washington voting against it.
As Israel-Gaza war rages, keffiyeh scarves become a controversial symbol
The United Nations estimates 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned Gaza risked a “breakdown of civil order”.
“Everywhere you go, people are desperate, hungry and are terrified,” said Lazzarini, who recently returned from Gaza.

According to UN humanitarian agency OCHA’s latest update on the situation in Gaza, more than a third of households in the territory have reported experiencing severe hunger, while more than 90 percent are “going to bed hungry”.
Adding to Gaza residents’ desperation, mobile and internet communications were cut Thursday, according to Palestinian telecommunications company PalTel.
“We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost due to the cut off of main fibre routes from the Israeli side,” it said in a message on social media.
“Gaza is... blacked out again,” PalTel said, with global network monitor Netblocks confirming the blackout.
Hamas’ media office described the blackout as a “premeditated crime that deepens the humanitarian crisis” by making it harder for rescuers to reach injured people.
Even as the need for humanitarian assistance grows, aid distribution has largely stopped in most of Gaza, except on a limited basis in the Rafah area, according to the UN.




COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said the military “is enabling tactical pauses for humanitarian purposes”.
One was taking place Thursday for four hours in a Rafah neighbourhood to allow civilians to restock supplies such as food and water, it said.
Fears of a wider regional conflagration persist, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Thursday claimed responsibility for an attack on a cargo ship through a Red Sea strait that is key to world shipping.
According to a US official, the missile missed, though the Iran-backed rebels said the Maersk Gibraltar container ship was “targeted with a drone and the hit was direct”.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack was intended as retaliation for the “oppression of the Palestinian people”.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Israel-Gaza war

Israel presses Gaza offensive in war it says will last ‘months’

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photo: AP

Palestinians look for the survivors of an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photo: AP

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Ariel Hermoni/GPO/dpa

Men holding raised weapons are led out by Israeli soldiers near Kamal Adwan hospital, in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via Reuters

Palestinian children queue to receive food in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

Israel bombs Gaza as rift with US grows. ‘Nothing will stop us,’ Netanyahu vows

Mourners at a funeral for Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip, in a handout picture released on Thursday. Photo: Israel Defence Force via Reuters

The aftermath of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

Israeli soldiers preparing to enter the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

A displaced Palestinian in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, adjusts his tent following heavy rains. Photo: Reuters

Israel suffers heavy losses in Hamas ambush, faces diplomatic isolation over Gaza

Israeli soldiers prepare to enter the Gaza Strip for operations against Hamas. Photo: Reuters

Israeli forces evacuate a wounded soldier from Gaza on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Palestinians salvage their belongings after an Israeli strike in Rafah on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes. Photo: Reuters

Amid outcry over Gaza tactics, videos of Israeli soldier behaviour create headache for military

This image made from an undated video shared on X shows Israeli troops chanting racist slogans as they dance in a circle in Gaza. Photo: X via AP

This image made from an undated video shared on X shows Israeli troops trying to burn food and water supplies in the back of a truck in Gaza. Photo: X via AP

Detained Palestinians on a street in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, as Israeli soldiers stand guard. Photo: Reuters

Hamas militants wore bodycams during their October 7 rampage in Israel. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via AP

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Israel’s defence minister said it will take months to destroy Hamas, predicting a drawn-out war
US security envoy discussed possible transition to ‘lower intensity’ military operations in Gaza


US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had talks with Israel about shifting its strategy in Gaza toward surgical operations against Hamas from a broad ground campaign.
