Fighting raged in Gaza on Wednesday over a month after Hamas’s shock October 7 attack triggered a furious response from Israel aimed at destroying the Islamist militant group.
Over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel in the attack, according to Israeli officials.
In Gaza, more than 10,300 people, also mostly civilians, have been killed in the war, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory has said.
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‘The heart of Gaza City’
Israeli troops are “in the heart of Gaza City”, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday.
“Gaza is the largest terrorist base ever built,” Gallant told a news conference, vowing to destroy Hamas as Israel marked a month since the group’s October 7 attack.
In a televised statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be “no entry of gasoline… no ceasefire without the release of our hostages”.
Netanyahu also warned Iran-backed Hezbollah “it will be making the mistake of its life” if it opens a new front in the war from its base in Lebanon.
Memorial ceremonies
In Jerusalem on Tuesday night, sobs pierced memorial ceremonies and crowds lit candles while mourning the victims of Hamas’s attack a month ago.
“There’s not one person not impacted by these horrible attacks,” said 52-year-old Sharon Balaban, one of thousands of Israelis attending the vigils.
In densely packed Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry said Tuesday the death toll had reached 10,328, including more than 4,200 children.
G7 backs ‘humanitarian pauses’
G7 foreign ministers said Wednesday that they supported “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the Israel-Hamas war but refrained from calling for a ceasefire.
“We stress the need for urgent action to address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” they said in a joint statement after talks in Japan.
The G7, which includes the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, supported “humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages.”
US opposes ‘reoccupation’
The United States said Tuesday it opposed a new long-term occupation of the Gaza Strip after Netanyahu said Israel would take “overall security responsibility” for the territory following the war.
“Generally speaking, we do not support the reoccupation of Gaza and neither does Israel,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
“Our viewpoint is that Palestinians must be at the forefront of these decisions and Gaza is Palestinian land.”
Convoy under fire
The International Committee of the Red Cross said a humanitarian convoy carrying medical supplies came under fire in Gaza City on Tuesday, leaving two trucks damaged and a driver lightly wounded.
The ICRC did not specify who had fired at its convoy or from where the fire came.
“These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work,” said William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza.
Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday one of its employees was killed in Gaza along with several family members.
Mohammed Al Ahel, a laboratory technician, was killed in his home in the Shati refugee camp, MSF said.
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