GAZA: Hamas said on Monday that the Israeli military had carried out dozens of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
After Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel late on Saturday, it called for an end to world powers, but Israel’s military said most of them had stopped.
Tehran’s first direct attack on Israel in retaliation for a deadly attack in Damascus earlier this month follows months of tension in the region involving Iran-backed groups that say they support Palestinians in Gaza in the war.
“Despite being attacked by Iran, we have not lost sight of our important mission in Gaza to rescue hostages from Iran’s proxy Hamas,” said Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari late Sunday.
Mediators used the agreement to allay war fears over Israel’s plans to send troops to Rafah, the far southern city that is home to most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
Hagari said that around 130 people, including 34 believed to be dead, remain in the hands of Palestinian resistance fighters of Israel.
“There are hostages in Rafah and we will do everything we can to bring them home,” a military spokesman said at a briefing.
The army said it had “called up about two reserve brigades for operations on the Kazan front”, a week after the withdrawal of most of its ground forces from the area.
The state-run Hamas press agency said Israeli warplanes carried out “dozens” of strikes in central Gaza overnight.
Rumors of an Israeli checkpoint reopening on Sunday on the coastal road from the enclave’s south to Gaza City have sent thousands of Palestinians north, despite Israel’s denial that it is open.
AFP reporters saw mothers riding donkey carts with children and their families.
Mahmoud Awdeh, a Palestinian man hoping to meet his wife in Khan Isuni in the south, “told me on the phone that people are leaving … to wait at the checkpoint until the army agrees to take over.” in the north.”
The Israeli army told AFP that reporting that the route was open was “erroneous”.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday after Iran’s attack, Israel demanded new sanctions against Tehran and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the region was “at risk of war”.
“Neither the region nor the world can afford more wars,” the UN chief said. “Now is the time to change and get stronger.”
