Israel troops enter Hamas tunnels as Netanyahu rules out ceasefire on day 25 of Gaza conflict

Israel announced on Tuesday that it had launched an attack on Hamas terrorists within the Islamists’ extensive network of tunnels beneath Gaza. This came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

As Israel steps up ground operations inside Gaza to destroy the ruling Hamas movement in the wake of its gun rampage three weeks ago that left over 1,400 people dead, the tunnels are a major goal.

“Over the last day, combined IDF combat forces struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israel Defernce Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

Hamas terrorists responded with anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire, it added.

“The soldiers killed terrorists and directed air forces to real-time strikes on targets and terror infrastructure,” the IDF said.

According to witnesses, Israeli forces attacked Gaza City from two directions on Monday, focusing on the city’s main north-south road. Israel claimed that one of its soldiers was released from Hamas custody.

Declaring that “this is a time for war,” Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza. The Israeli prime minister stated that opportunities to free hostages had been created by the army’s advance through Gaza, something Hamas would only do under duress, at a press conference held in English on Monday.

According to the head of UNRWA, women and children make up almost 70% of those reportedly slain in Gaza. “The human tragedy unfolding under our watch is unbearable,” the head of the UN agency providing relief for Palestine refugees has issued a warning, stating that the level of destruction in Gaza “is unprecedented.” Using data from the Gaza health ministry, Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council on Monday that almost 3,200 children had died there in the previous three weeks.

According to the national security council spokesperson for the White House, the US does not currently think that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is “the right answer”. John Kirby stated on Monday, “We think that a ceasefire benefits Hamas right now, and Hamas is the only one that would gain from that right now.”

A video showing three Israeli hostages in Gaza was released by Hamas, ostensibly to put more pressure on Netanyahu’s administration. The hostages were identified by Netanyahu’s office as Daniel Aloni, Rimon Kirsht, and Elena Trupanov. During a press conference in Tel Aviv, their families pleaded with the Red Cross to demand that all hostages held in Gaza be seen, and they asked US President Joe Biden to “do any and everything in your power to bring everyone home”.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) reported that during an overnight operation, an Israeli soldier who had been kidnapped by Hamas had been freed from Gaza. Sunday night marked the release of army private Ori Megidish, who had been kidnapped along with over two hundred other hostages three weeks prior. She was reunited with her family following a medical checkup that indicated she was healthy.

There appear to be two directions in which Israeli forces are moving towards Gaza City. Israeli armour was operating near the Mediterranean coast to the north of the Gaza Strip. According to witness accounts, Israeli tanks were seen operating on the periphery of Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood and Zaytun district, as well as cutting the city’s main Salah al-Din road south of the city. If verified, the major road closure would indicate that Israeli forces are attempting to cut off Gaza City from the south, effectively isolating and laying siege to the urban sprawl that extends north all the way to Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia.

The Palestine Red Crescent said on Monday that a total of 26 trucks carrying medical supplies and food had entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing. Since October 7, only 144 trucks have brought supplies to the Palestinian humanitarian organisation, according to the statement.

ActionAid warned that hundreds of patients are trapped inside the al-Quds hospital in northern Gaza due to the hospital’s constant and intense bombardment. Along with hundreds of patients who would not have survived the trip south, more than 12,000 displaced people are seeking refuge in the hospital’s courtyards and corridors, according to the statement.

According to aid organisations, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is still getting worse because there is not enough fuel, food, water, or medicine. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, stated that obstructing aid could potentially constitute a war crime and urged Israel to allow more trucks to enter.

There was a decline in Israeli public support for an extended occupation at the same time as the IDF’s incursion into Gaza intensified. According to a study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that tracked the same sample of 1,774 people with a 4.2% margin of error, support has decreased from 65% on October 10 to 46% as of right now.

According to the military, Israeli forces attacked targets in Syria and Lebanon in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel from those regions. The IDF said in two different tweets that a fighter jet had attacked launchers in Syrian territory and that an aircraft had attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanese territory, including “infrastructures for directing terrorism and military infrastructures of the organisation.”

According to Israel, the operation was conducted to “thwart terrorist infrastructure in the Jenin refugee camp” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which it claimed led to 51 people being arrested, of which it claimed 38 were operatives of Hamas.

According to her family, 22-year-old German-Israeli Shani Louk passed away during Hamas’s attack on a music festival in Re’im. At first, it was thought that she had been kidnapped alive.

In East Jerusalem that has been annexed, near the green line, a Palestinian attacked an Israeli police officer with a knife, critically wounding him before shooting him dead. About 200 metres from the scene of the shooting, Guardian correspondents witnessed armed police, horses and sharpshooters on motorbikes assembling at a nearby petrol station. They also heard two rapid bursts of gunfire in quick succession.

According to the Kremlin, a mob that on Sunday stormed an airport in Dagestan in search of Jewish passengers from Israel did so because of “outside influence.” Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, claimed that “ill-wishers” had utilised widely shared photos.

Paul Bristow, a British Conservative MP, lost his government position after publicly urging Rishi Sunak to support a long-term ceasefire in Gaza.

After being indicted by an Illinois grand jury, a man accused of attacking a Palestinian American boy and his mother and committing murder, attempted murder, and a hate crime entered a not-guilty plea on Monday. Wadea Al-Fayoume, age six, was fatally stabbed on October 14 along with his mother, Hanaan Shahin, who was also injured. Joseph Czuba, 71, is accused of doing both crimes. According to the authorities, the victims were singled out due to their Muslim faith.

Following US citizens’ statements endorsing the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, civil rights organisations in the US have issued a warning about a potential “wave of McCarthyite backlash” against criticism of the Palestinians have been sacked, faced threats of violence and hounded by pro-Israel groups.

(With agency inputs)