Israel rebuffs calls to halt Gaza war as its forces move south

JERUSALEM/GAZA – Israeli leaders rebuffed mounting pressure to halt the military campaign in the southern Gaza Strip, vowing to press on until Hamas is eradicated, even as the death toll rose and the United Nations warned that civilians had no safe harbour amid the bombing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a briefing with members of his war Cabinet, said that if the rest of the world wants the war to end quickly, it must stand with Israel.

He accused international organisations of ignoring what he said were

“abhorrent” cases of rape by Hamas fighters

during the

Oct 7 incursion

that touched off the latest violence.

“Hamas is trying to tear us down, and instead, we are taking them apart,” Mr Netanyahu said, adding that Israeli forces had killed half of Hamas’ battalion commanders. “We will fight until the end, until a crushing victory.”

The message echoed past arguments that Mr Netanyahu and the Cabinet have made over concerns from the Biden administration and other allies, which have warned that the devastation wrought in north Gaza before a seven-day truce that ended last week must not be repeated in the south.

In a post to X on Dec 5, the European Union’s top diplomat, Mr Josep Borrell, urged a new pause in the fighting.

While Israel has said it is taking increased precautions to protect the lives of civilians, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Dec 5 that the death toll has risen to some 1,000 people since the truce ended, bringing the number of dead Palestinians since Israel’s counter-offensive began to

more than 16,000

.

Israel announced on Dec 5 that seven more soldiers had been killed in the latest fighting.

Israel’s government has blamed Hamas, which the United States and the EU have designated a terrorist group, accusing it of using residents as human shields by operating near, or underneath, hospitals and schools.

‘There are no safe places’

The Israeli military has encircled Khan Younis, the territory’s second-largest city, as it seeks to wipe out Hamas, which set off the war on Oct 7 after breaching barriers into southern Israel and killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

The Israeli Defence Force believes Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif are in the city, according to a report by Axios, citing officials it did not identify.

House-to-house gun battles were raging around Khan Younis

, as Israeli forces and Hamas fighters clashed on Dec 5 in some of the heaviest fighting of the two-month-old war, Israeli commanders said.

Major-General Yaron Finkelman, head of Israel’s southern command, described the fighting as “the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation”.

The UN on Dec 5 expressed frustration over the civilian deaths. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the message to avoid civilian deaths “hasn’t been very successful, to be completely honest”.

“

There are no safe places

” in Gaza, he said. “There are shelters that fly the UN flag that are sheltering thousands and thousands and thousands of people – men, women, children. Those places that fly the UN flag are not safe, either.”

In his post, the EU’s Mr Borrell said he had been told the UN would not be able to operate in south Gaza because of the Israeli bombing.

Further underscoring the international scrutiny, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with Mr Netanyahu on Dec 5 and called for more aid to flow into Gaza.

Mr Sunak “expressed disappointment about the breakdown of the pause in fighting in Gaza, which had allowed hostages to be released”, his office said in a readout.

The US has sought to highlight that the Israeli military has been making efforts to notify people in Gaza of operations and direct them to other areas. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in remarks late on Dec 5 in Washington, underscored the balancing act the Biden administration is trying to maintain.

“We’re determined to make sure that Israel can do what is necessary to make sure that Oct 7 never happens again,” Mr Blinken said.

“But also, we need to make sure that we’re doing everything possible to help those who desperately need help, including the many innocent men and women and children in Gaza.”

Fresh pause still on the table

Earlier on Dec 5, an Israeli government spokesman said securing the release of all those seized by Hamas and other armed groups on Oct 7 remains a war goal, alongside destroying the Islamist militant group.

The spokesman, Mr Eylon Levy, said Israel would consider another short-term ceasefire if a deal can be reached to

return more of the hostages still in captivity

.

“A temporary pause to get them out” would be considered, Mr Levy said.

During the seven-day ceasefire that ended on Dec 1, Hamas returned 110 of the more than 240 people taken. In exchange, about three times as many Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel.

The ceasefire came to an end

, Israel said, when Hamas reneged on an agreement to return all women and children. Hamas still holds 138 hostages, including 20 women and two children. Israel says at least 15 of the hostages taken on Oct 7 have died.

Qatar – which helped broker the last halt in fighting – said it is working to secure a fresh pause. That should not be seen as “an alternative to a permanent ceasefire”, Emir Sheikh Tamim Hamad Al Thani said in Doha.

At a fund-raiser in Massachusetts on Dec 5, US President Joe Biden said hours had been spent working with the Qataris to broker the pause, but when Hamas ended the release of hostages, everything fell apart.

“We have to get it back on track,” Mr Biden said of the halt in fighting.

Also on Dec 5, the US said it would deny visas to Israeli settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, a rare rebuke intended to raise pressure on Israel to tamp down violence.

Israeli settlers have carried out more than 220 assaults on Palestinian communities in the West Bank since the war started, according to human rights groups. BLOOMBERG