Months into the war on Gaza, Israel’s military is adjusting its troop deployment in anticipation of even longer-lasting fighting, while the death toll continues to rise in the embattled coastal strip.
The armed branch of the Islamist Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, said it launched rocket attacks on the greater Tel Aviv area, while Israeli media reported more than 20 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel on Monday.
The attack was a “reaction to the Zionist massacres of civilians” in the Gaza Strip, the Qassam Brigades said in a statement. They published a video announcing they had used M90 rockets.
Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system. According to the emergency services, no casualties were initially reported as a result of the shelling.
Anticipating fighting will continue for some time, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it was allowing some reservists to temporarily return to civilian life.
“The goals of the war require a prolonged battle, and we are preparing accordingly,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Sunday evening. According to the Times of Israel, the military believes it is likely that the Gaza war will continue throughout 2024.
“We are wisely planning the management of the forces operating in the field, looking at the reserve system, the economy, refreshing forces, and continuing the combat training processes in the IDF.”
Some of the reservists will “return to their families and employment” this week, Hagari continued. He said this will relieve Israel’s economy and allow the reservists to “gather strength for the upcoming activities” in the New Year.
The war between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel broke out after the worst massacre in Israel’s history on October 7, in which militants from Hamas and other extremist groups killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped around 240 others to the Gaza Strip.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive. The government says its goal is the complete destruction of Hamas.
The Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war has risen to 21,822. It is not possible to independently verify the figures but various UN bodies, in the past, have said that figures from the Gaza health authorities are credible.
In the past 24 hours, 156 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, according to the health authority which is controlled by Hamas.
Since the war began almost three months ago, a total of 21,978 people have been killed and around 57,700 others injured, a spokesman said on Monday. The figures cannot be confirmed, but the UN and other observers point out that the authority’s figures have been credible in the past.
Some 70% of those killed are said to be women and minors.
The health authority also said 326 health workers had been killed during the war and more than 100 ambulances destroyed or severely damaged.
Among those killed were a former minister of the Palestinian Authority and his wife, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, according to a report.
Sheikh Yussef Salama, former minister of religious affairs and an imam at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, was killed on Sunday in an attack on his home in the refugee neighbourhood of Al-Maghasi, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
His wife also died later of her injuries, according to the Gaza health authority. An Israeli army spokesman said on Monday that he could not comment without the exact coordinates of the incident.
The IDF also released figures on deaths, stating one in six Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip has been either accidentally killed or killed by their own comrades.
The total amounts to 29 soldiers, 18 of whom were killed by friendly fire. Two others were killed by an accidental shot and nine more by accidents, for example with ammunition, the IDF said.
According to military figures, a total of 172 soldiers have been killed since the start of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip at the end of October. More than 900 have been injured. Since the start of the war, 506 servicemen and women have been killed.