The relationship is “not good.”
Israeli officials: Two civilians die for every terrorist
December 5, 2023, 2:59 am
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People there are paying a high price for Israel’s crackdown on Hamas in the Gaza Strip: for every Hamas member killed, two civilians die. The army, now apparently advancing on Khan Yunis, says the fight will be more precise in the south.
Two civilians have been killed for every Hamas fighter killed in military operations against the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to two senior Israeli officials. The relationship is “good,” but using civilians as human shields is part of Hamas’ “basic strategy,” one of the two military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters in an interview.
As fighting continues in the Gaza Strip, the civilian death toll is expected to improve “significantly” relative to the number of militants killed, an official said. Asked about the report that 5,000 Hamas fighters had been killed, one of the officials said it was “more or less accurate.” The Israeli army is trying to keep the number of civilian casualties as low as possible, officials said. The military uses sophisticated mapping software that uses cell phone signals, aerial surveillance and artificial intelligence to determine how many people are in different parts of the Gaza Strip. In addition, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the population has almost doubled, the military “takes more detail” and “takes more time” to effectively warn the public.
On Monday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed that the Israeli military would now proceed with more precision. “More precise evacuation orders” will be made, Miller said. Washington therefore believes that significantly fewer people will be displaced in the south of the Gaza Strip than in the north. More recently, Israel has significantly expanded its operations in the Gaza Strip in the war against the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas and, according to eyewitnesses, has advanced south of the area with dozens of tanks and troop transports.
During the night, there were reports that the army opened fire on targets in the Khan Yunis area. Israeli newspaper “The Times of Israel” It cites Palestinian reports of heavy attacks by Israeli forces in the largest city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Witnesses reported seeing armored personnel carriers and bulldozers near Khan Younis.
Israel contradicts WHO
Criticism of the military’s actions is mounting, given the civilian casualties. Aid agencies speak of “horror” and “unbearable suffering”. James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children’s fund UNICEF, told the BBC that no one would feel safe if bombs were falling every ten minutes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the evacuation of a medical camp in the south of the Gaza Strip on Israeli orders. The army has warned that ground operations could render the camp inaccessible, WHO said. The Israeli Ministry of Defense has denied this.
A terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7 killed more than 1,200 people, including at least 850 civilians. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, the Israeli counteroffensive has now killed nearly 15,900 people. The number of victims cannot currently be independently verified, but the United Nations and other observers point out that the authority’s figures have generally proven reliable in the past. Hamas kidnapped about 240 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip. Israel believes 137 people, including 15 women and two children, are still being held by terrorists. According to a spokesman, the military has intelligence on where the hostages are still in the Gaza Strip.
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