GAZA: Unrelenting Israeli bombardment rocked Gaza on Monday, while an army spokesman warned the war on the besieged territory’s Hamas rulers will continue throughout 2024.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met troops inside Gaza on Monday, and vowed in a statement that “life will return to its course” for residents of border communities hit in Hamas’s October 7 attacks that triggered the war.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the army was preparing for the “prolonged fighting” ahead “throughout this year.”
He later said some of the 300,000 Israeli reserve soldiers will be “gradually” released.
Heavy artillery fire and air strikes were reported across the length of the territory, with the health ministry there saying 15 dead bodies from the same family were recovered Monday from the rubble of a bombed house in Jabalia, in northern Gaza.
As fighting raged on in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, Israel’s top court on Monday issued a ruling against a key component of the government’s controversial judicial overhaul, which had been met with mass protests before the war.
Two far-right Israeli ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, have called since Sunday for the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza, from which Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005.
Both said separately that Israel should “encourage” the territory’s approximately 2.4 million Palestinians to emigrate.
The war in Gaza has also raised fears of a broader regional conflict, with hostilities flaring with mostly Iran-backed militant groups in nearby countries who say they are acting in support of Hamas.
