Hamas’ military wing warns that Israeli soldiers who invade the country will return home “in black bags.”
The Israeli military announced its forces had surrounded Gaza’s main city, while rejecting growing international calls for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Thursday that Gaza City had been surrounded nearly a week after its forces expanded their ground operations in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
“Israeli soldiers have completed the encirclement of Gaza City, the center of the Hamas terrorist organization,” Hagari told reporters.
Hagari said “a ceasefire is not on the table at all right now.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last week declared the war against Hamas had entered the “second stage” amid an escalating ground war, said Thursday evening that Israeli forces were at ” climax of the battle.
“We have achieved impressive successes and reached beyond the outskirts of Gaza City,” he said. “We move forward.”
The Israeli military said in a separate statement on social media that its priorities “are to bring home the children, women and men held hostage by Hamas and to ensure that Hamas will no longer have the ability to attack Israelis.
Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, warned in response that Gaza would be the “curse of history for Israel” and that Israeli soldiers entering the enclave would return home “in black bags.”
Israel’s announcement comes after US President Joe Biden expressed support for a humanitarian “pause” in the fighting to allow the release of captives held by Hamas.
White House officials later clarified that the Biden administration did not favor a full ceasefire, but would push for temporary, localized pauses in fighting to allow for help and the release of the hostages.
On Thursday, seven UN special rapporteurs issued a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, expressing concern that Palestinians face a “grave risk of genocide.”
The Israeli attack on Gaza has been increasingly condemned since its forces carried out successive air raids on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza earlier this week.
At least 195 people were killed and hundreds more injured in strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Wednesday that the attacks could constitute war crimes given the “high number of civilian casualties” and “the scale of destruction” in the refugee camp.
Israel said the airstrikes targeted a Hamas commander and a “vast” network of tunnels beneath the camp site.
At least 9,061 Palestinians were killed in the bombardment of Gaza, launched by Israeli forces in response to Hamas attacks on October 7 on communities in southern Israel.
At least 1,405 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the surprise Hamas attack involving land, sea and air incursions, according to Israeli officials.
