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Israel says it has Gaza City surrounded

Adel Zaanoun with Daphne Rousseau in Jerusalem, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="An Israeli artillery unit fires during a military drill in the annexed Golan Heights near the border with Lebanon, 02 November 2023. Tensions remain high at the border between Israel and Lebanon after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated following an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas militants from Gaza into Israel on 07 October 2023. EPA-EFE/AYAL MARGOLIN ISRAEL OUT" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/11/03/20231103-israeli-gaza-epa.jpg"/><figcaption>An Israeli artillery unit fires during a military drill in the annexed Golan Heights near the border with Lebanon, 02 November 2023. Tensions remain high at the border between Israel and Lebanon after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated following an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas militants from Gaza into Israel on 07 October 2023. <em>EPA-EFE/AYAL MARGOLIN ISRAEL OUT</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>RAFAH, Palestinian Territories - Israel&#x27;s military said Thursday its forces have surrounded Gaza City in the Hamas-run and densely populated Palestinian territory as they pressed their assault against the Islamist group.</p><p>The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, warned Israel that its invading soldiers would go home &quot;in black bags&quot;.</p><p>Spokesman Abu Obeida said: &quot;Gaza will be the curse of history for Israel.&quot;</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2862607" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>The Hamas warning came after Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops had completely surrounded Gaza City after days of expanding ground operations.</p><p>&quot;Israeli soldiers have completed the encirclement of the city of Gaza, the centre of the Hamas terror organization,&quot; Hagari told journalists.</p><p>&quot;The concept of a ceasefire is not currently on the table at all,&quot; he added.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/02/23/over-10000-dead-in-israel-hamas-war-as-attacks-on-gaza-continue">Over 10,000 dead in Israel-Hamas war as attacks on Gaza continue</a></li></ul><p>Amid growing fears of the conflict spreading, Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon exchanged fire after a salvo of rockets slammed into a northern Israel town.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2861369" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>The White House said US President Joe Biden was calling for humanitarian pauses in the conflict that would involve a &quot;temporary, localized&quot; cessation of hostilities, well short of a general ceasefire.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/02/23/biden-backs-humanitarian-pause-in-israel-hamas-war">Biden voices support for humanitarian &#x27;pause&#x27; in Israel-Hamas war</a></li></ul><p>Leaving on a new Middle East tour, Biden&#x27;s Secretary of State Antony Blinken said &quot;we are determined to deter any escalation&quot; in the Israel-Hamas war.</p><p>&quot;We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women and children in Gaza,&quot; he told reporters.</p><p>Hundreds more foreigners and dual nationals managed to escape war-torn Gaza for Egypt Thursday as Israel&#x27;s forces bombarded and fought ground battles in the besieged territory where thousands of people have died.</p><p>A source at the Rafah border crossing told AFP it will open again on Friday, with more foreign nationals and wounded Palestinians expected to enter Egypt from the Gaza Strip.</p><p>Egypt said it eventually plans to help evacuate 7,000 foreigners through Rafah.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/02/23/egypt-to-help-evacuate-7000-foreigners-from-gaza">Egypt to help evacuate &#x27;about 7,000&#x27; foreigners from Gaza</a></li></ul><p>The health ministry in Cairo said 21 wounded Palestinians and &quot;344 foreign nationals, including 72 children&quot; passed through the Rafah border crossing on only the second day it has opened for people to leave Gaza in nearly four weeks of fighting.</p><p>A list of those approved to travel shows hundreds of US citizens and 50 Belgians along with smaller numbers from various European, Arab, Asian and African countries.</p><p>&quot;There was no food, no water, no gas, nowhere to take shelter,&quot; said US passport holder Salma Shaath, 14, as she prepared to cross.</p><p>&quot;People were going to hospitals to sleep, there are a lot of martyrs, there is no internet, no communications and no electricity. Our house was bombed ... so we came here to Rafah.&quot;</p><p>The evacuation marks a tiny proportion of the 2.4 million people trapped in Gaza under ferocious Israeli bombardment since Hamas launched their bloody cross-border attack into Israel on October 7.</p><p>Lebanon&#x27;s Hezbollah said it attacked 19 Israeli positions along the border simultaneously on Thursday, ahead of a speech by its leader Hassan Nasrallah on the Israel-Hamas war.</p><p>The Israeli military said &quot;warplanes and helicopters attacked in recent hours targets of the Hezbollah terror organisation in response to fire from Lebanese territory earlier today, together with attacks with artillery and tank fire&quot;.</p><p>Lebanon&#x27;s official National News Agency said four people were killed and others wounded, and Hezbollah announced another of its fighters killed.</p><p>Thursday&#x27;s deaths raised to 71 the number killed in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began, according to an AFP tally.</p><p>In northern Gaza, ground fighting flared again overnight as Israeli troops battled Hamas.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2860623" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Israeli army chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said troops were inside Gaza, besieging Gaza City and &quot;deepening infiltration&quot; of Hamas-held areas.</p><p>&quot;Israeli soldiers are fighting face-to-face with a brutal enemy,&quot; he told reporters.</p><p>Hamas&#x27;s assault on October 7, which Israel says claimed 1,400 lives, was the bloodiest in the country&#x27;s 75-year-history.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Whole families killed&#x27;</strong></div><p>The Israeli army is also seeking to free around 240 hostages, both civilians and troops, captured by Hamas during the attacks.</p><p>Some 332 soldiers have already died in the October 7 attacks and in the Israeli offensive the Hamas assault triggered.</p><p>Now gruelling urban warfare lies ahead deeper inside Gaza, where Hamas is fighting from a tunnel network spanning hundreds of kilometres (miles).</p><p>Global concern has risen sharply over Israel&#x27;s response, in which the army says it has struck more than 12,000 targets so far.</p><p>The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 9,000 people have died, mostly women and children.</p><p>Special concern has focused on repeated heavy strikes on Gaza&#x27;s largest refugee camp -- densely populated Jabalia, north of Gaza City -- where explosions brought down residential buildings.</p><p>Gaza&#x27;s Hamas-ruled government said 195 were killed in two days of Israeli strikes on Jabalia, with hundreds more missing and wounded, figures AFP could not independently verify.</p><p>Major strikes also hit Gaza&#x27;s Bureij refugee camp and an area near a UN-run school in Jabalia Thursday, where the health ministry said 27 had died.</p><p>Outside the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, displaced residents seeking shelter from Israeli strikes told AFP that civilians would not withstand the barrage much longer.</p><p>&quot;This is not a life. We need a safe place for our kids,&quot; said 50-year-old Hiyam Shamlakh. &quot;Everybody is terrified, children, women and the elderly.&quot;</p><p>Another Gazan, Mahmoud Abu Jarad, said civilians would not be able to tolerate another week of strikes. &quot;We demand a ceasefire. This is the most important thing,&quot; the 30-year-old said.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Death every day&#x27;</strong></div><p>Israel has sought to justify the first Jabalia attack by saying it targeted a senior Hamas commander in a tunnel complex below the camp.</p><p>AFP has witnessed rescuers desperately clawing through the rubble and twisted metal in frantic attempts to bring out survivors and bodies.</p><p>Emergency responders say &quot;whole families&quot; have died.</p><p>The wounded were rushed away by cart, motorcycle and ambulance as anguished wails and blaring sirens filled the dusty air.</p><p>But Gaza&#x27;s hospitals are overwhelmed, short of medical supplies and often without electricity.</p><p>Violence has also flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where more than 130 Palestinians have died since October 7 according to the Palestinian health ministry.</p><p>On Thursday, three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, the ministry said, and an Israeli was killed in a Palestinian shooting attack, according to first responders.</p><p>burs-srm/kir</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

Israel's military said Thursday its forces have surrounded Gaza City in the Hamas-run and densely populated Palestinian territory.

Israel says it has Gaza City surrounded

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Israel says it has Gaza City surrounded

Adel Zaanoun with Daphne Rousseau in Jerusalem,

Agence France-Presse

Published November 03, 2023 07:09 AM PHT

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