Israel vows to ‘fight until victory’; US, allies push for Gaza offensive delay

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “fight until victory” in Gaza, signaling no pause in his military’s bombardment and expected invasion of the enclave.

Israel has already told all civilians to evacuate the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes Gaza City. On Friday, Hamas released two American citizens it took captive during its deadly onslaught in southern Israel on October 7.

The war is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. On Friday, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that 4,137 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,000 others wounded. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly in the initial attack when Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel. In addition, 203 people were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza, the Israeli military has said.

ISRAEL HAMAS WAR – TOP DEVELOPMENTS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “fight until victory” in Gaza, signaling no pause in his military’s bombardment and expected invasion of the enclave after Hamas released two US hostages. In a Friday statement, Netanyahu said, “Two of our abductees are at home. We are not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people. At the same time, we’ll continue to fight until victory.”

On Friday, Hamas terrorists freed two Americans, a mother and her teenage daughter, who had been held hostage in Gaza since terrorists rampaged through Israel two weeks ago. Judith Tai Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were handed over to Israeli forces at the Gaza Strip border, being the first hostages to be released, while more than 200 are still being held. Hamas said it was releasing them in an agreement with the Qatari government for humanitarian reasons.

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and relatives of the duo, the mother and daughter were abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the surprise assault on southern Israel carried out from Gaza on October 7.

US President Joe Biden, upon being asked by a reporter on Friday whether Israel should delay a potential ground invasion of Gaza until more hostages can get out, said “yes”. However, later, the White House said Biden did not hear a question from a reporter who asked whether Israel should delay a potential ground invasion of Gaza.

“The president was far away. He didn’t hear the full question. The question sounded like ‘Would you like to see more hostages released?’ He wasn’t commenting on anything else,” White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt said. Biden was walking up the steps to board Air Force One when a reporter shouted the question over the sound of the plane’s engines. Biden stopped for a moment and said, “yes,” and then proceeded onto the plane.

Several governments in Europe, along with the United States, are pushing Israel to delay launching a ground invasion of Gaza, fearing that the incursion will scuttle efforts to secure additional hostage releases for the foreseeable future, The Times of Israel quoted a senior diplomat official as saying.

The official said the governments recognise that a ground invasion is very likely and are not telling Israel not to launch one at all, rather hold off to try and see if additional diplomatic efforts can succeed.

As the aid delivery to Gaza suffered a delay even on Friday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and called on all international parties to work together to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in besieged Gaza.

Speaking to the media in front of the border crossing, he said, “We are actively engaging with Egypt, Israel and the United States in order to make sure that we can clarify those conditions and limit those restrictions in order to have these trucks headed to where they are needed.”

US President Joe Biden has asserted a link between the Hamas assault and the US push for Israel-Saudi normalisation. Speaking at a campaign fundraiser, Biden said, “One of the reasons Hamas moved on Israel… they knew that I was about to sit down with the Saudis. Guess what the Saudis wanted to recognise Israel,” the US President said, offering details on US efforts to broker a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that appears to have been put on hold following the October 7 Hamas onslaught.

Saudi Arabia has been very critical of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza over the past two weeks and US officials have acknowledged that the normalisation effort is no longer their immediate focus, as they work to support Israel against Hamas.

On Friday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said after the country destroys the Hamas terrorist group, the military does not plan to control “life in the Gaza Strip”. Gallant said Israel expected there to be three phases to its war with Hamas. He said it first would attack the group in Gaza with airstrikes and ground maneuvers, then it would defeat pockets of resistance and finally it would cease its “responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip.”

On Friday, Israel bombarded Gaza, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety. Israel also began evacuating a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil.

Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy airstrikes in Gaza’s Khan Younis in the south, while ambulances carrying men, women and children streamed into the town’s Nasser Hospital, Gaza’s second largest, which is already overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter.

Palestinian terrorists in Gaza continued to rain down rockets on Israel’s south on Friday and the Israeli Air Force pounded Hamas targets in the Strip. The Israel Defense Forces said it struck multiple Hamas command centers and underground infrastructure throughout the day, while also eliminating a senior Hamas engineer. It said Mahmoud Sabih headed a unit that developed weapons for Hamas, including drones and had “exchanged knowledge with other terror groups throughout the Middle East.”

The Israeli Air Force said it was ready to repel attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and was carrying out retaliatory airstrikes in the Gaza Strip “at a rate that has not been seen for decades,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari was quoted by The Times of Israel as saying.

Hagari said that the Israeli military is prepared to protect against potential attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis. Earlier on Thursday, a US Navy ship intercepted a number of missiles and drones launched from Yemen, apparently toward Israel.