Fighting rages in northern Gaza; Biden speaks with Netanyahu

Cairo/Jerusalem, December 24

Israel fought to wrest full control of northern Gaza from Hamas militants as the US and Israeli leaders discussed the outlook for the 11-week-old war, after the UN Security Council appealed for more aid for the Palestinian enclave.

Thick smoke hung over the northern town of Jabalia on Saturday and residents reported persistent aerial bombardment and shelling from Israeli tanks, which they said had moved further into the town.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the ‘objectives and phasing’ of Israel’s military operations, the need to protect civilian lives and securing the release of hostages from the Palestinian militant group, the White House said.

Netanyahu “made clear that Israel will pursue the war until all of its objectives are fully met”, his office said.

Israel’s main ally has maintained its support while expressing concern over the growing casualty toll and humanitarian crisis in densely populated Gaza. US officials said that they expect Israel to shift soon to a lower-intensity phase, with operations targeting the Hamas leadership and its infrastructure.

Biden said that he “did not ask for a ceasefire”, while Netanyahu’s office said he thanked Biden for the US stand at the UN Security Council.

The council averted a threatened US veto on Friday after days of wrangling by removing from a draft resolution a call for an immediate end to the war and diluting Israeli control over aid deliveries. The US and Israel oppose a ceasefire, contending it would let Iran-backed Hamas regroup and rearm.

Washington abstained from the final statement, which urges steps to allow ‘safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access’ to Gaza and ‘conditions for a sustainable cessation’ of fighting.

The Palestinian death toll reached 20,258, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday, with thousands of more bodies believed to be trapped under rubble. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced.

Israel said on Sunday that 154 of its soldiers have been killed since it launched its ground incursion in response to Hamas’ October 7 rampage into Israel, in which militants killed 1,200 and took 240 hostages.

They bomb day and night

Israel has achieved almost complete operational control of northern Gaza and is preparing to expand the ground offensive to other areas in the Strip, with a focus on the south, the chief military spokesperson said.

“We shall press ahead, for every fallen soldier, too. Until Hamas is eliminated. Until the hostages are returned,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz, a member of the security cabinet, posted on X.

Israel has long urged residents to leave northern areas of Gaza, but its forces have been bombarding targets in central and southern parts of the tiny coastal enclave.

“They ask people to head to Deir al-Balah (in central Gaza), where they bomb day and night,” Ziad, a medic and father of six, said.

“International law has collapsed,” said Ramzy Aidy, a Gaza resident with a doctorate in law. “If Israel were in the Palestinians’ position, the world would not stand still and would act.”