On Sunday, the Syrian civil war entered its centenary, coinciding with the pledge of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “no one will ever stop us” from eliminating the militant organization Hamas.
A humanitarian crisis has been instigated by the conflict, as evidenced by the reported deaths of over 23,000 individuals in Gaza and the extensive destruction of besieged Palestinian territory. Concerns are mounting that the battle may spread to the broader region.
The Iran-backed Huthis in Yemen were the target of additional attacks on Saturday, following the rebels’ threat of further assaults in support of Gaza against Red Sea vessels they believe are Israeli-linked.
The US Central Command reported that its forces destroyed a Huthi radar site in Yemen, one day after the initial attacks on rebel positions by British and American forces.
The unprecedented assault from the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants on October 7 initiated the Gaza War. According to an AFP calculation based on official figures, the attack claimed approximately 1,140 lives in Israel, the majority of which were civilians.
Hamas, which the European Union and the United States consider a “terrorist” organization, also captured approximately 250 hostages, 132 of whom Israel claims remain in Gaza and at least 25 of whom are believed to have been slain.
Israel swore to destroy the Islamist rulers of Gaza. It launched an unrelenting bombardment that, according to the most recent toll from the territory’s health ministry, has killed at least 23,843 people, the majority of whom are children and women.
Following this week’s arguments before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which accused Israel of violating the UN Genocide Convention, Netanyahu insisted that neither a military adversary nor a court could impede Israel’s destruction of Hamas.
Regarding the Iran-aligned “axis of resistance” consisting of groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, he stated on Saturday during a televised news conference, “No one will halt us—not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil, and no one else.”
“Continuation until victory is both feasible and necessary, and we shall achieve it,” he further stated, adding that the majority of Hamas battalions in Gaza have been “eliminated.”
Domestic pressure on Netanyahu to return the 100-day-old detainees held in Gaza has increased as thousands gather in Tel Aviv to demand their liberation.
“We shall remain here week after week until all individuals are liberated,” 47-year-old Edan Begerano told AFP.
Sanctioned individuals were slain by Israeli airstrikes in the besieged territory of Gaza on Saturday, according to health officials there.
Eighty-year-old Nimma al-Akhras detailed one of the explosions that destroyed her residence.
She stated, “When we began to scream, I was unable to move until someone dragged me out and placed me on a cart.”
According to the Israeli military, it removed four “terrorists” and destroyed dozens of “operationally ready” missile launchers in Khan Yunis, the principal southern city of Gaza, in airstrikes.
Additionally, it declared that its engineers had demolished a Hamas “command center” located in the central region of Gaza.
Adorers congregated at the Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah to offer prayers encircling the mortal remains of deceased family members.
Bassem Araf, an individual, presented a photograph depicting an infant.
“She passed away starving while holding bread in her hand.” “We attempted to pry the bread from her grasp, but she held on tightly,” Araf explained.
“They are focusing on this defenseless group, minors, in Gaza.”
Gaza, where the health system is collapsing, is experiencing severe shortages of food, water, medication, and fuel due to an Israeli siege.
On Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Philippe Lazzarini, the president of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, stated, “The catastrophic loss of life, destruction, displacement, hunger, and sorrow over the past one hundred days have tarnished our common humanity.”
He cautioned that diseases were proliferating, an entire generation of children in Gaza was being “traumatized,” and the timer was “fast approaching catastrophe.”
According to the United Nations, winter precipitation has worsened the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has displaced an estimated 1.9 million people, or roughly 85 percent of the population.
Numerous people have sought refuge in Rafah and other southern regions where, according to the health ministry, the necessary infrastructure is lacking.
A spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health condemned Israel’s “intentional targeting of hospitals… to render them inoperable,” threatening “devastating consequences.”
Hospitals, which are safeguarded by international humanitarian law, have been subjected to numerous Israeli airstrikes in Gaza ever since the outbreak of hostilities.
The Israeli military levies an accusation against Hamas, contending that the Islamist organization operates command centers through tunnels beneath hospitals.
Global Health Organization data indicates that less than half of Gaza’s hospitals are operational, and even then, only partially.
A day after Gaza’s primary services provider, Paltel, reported the most recent disruption, an AFP reporter in Rafah reported that a partial restoration of communications had occurred.
While two of Paltel’s employees were repairing the network in Khan Yunis when an Israeli strike claimed the lives of two others, the company did not immediately corroborate the restoration of service.