Israeli soldiers have encircled Gaza City, the Israeli military said yesterday, waging “face-to-face battles” with Hamas as they push forward with what officials have predicted will be a long and bloody ground invasion.
As the ground invasion has escalated and airstrikes have continued, Israel has come under increasing international pressure to cease the campaign, or at least temporarily pause the fighting with Hamas, to allow humanitarian aid into the enclave.
White House officials said that when the secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, arrives in Israel today he will urge the Israeli government to agree to a series of brief cessations of military operations in Gaza. The “humanitarian pauses,” as American officials are calling them, are meant to allow for hostages to be released safely and for aid to be distributed. The request is different from an overall cease-fire, which the Biden administration believes would benefit Hamas.
Israeli officials have consistently rejected calls to stop or temporarily pause the fighting, saying they have yet to achieve their goal of destroying Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza.
The Israeli military said yesterday that it had struck over 12,000 targets in Gaza since the beginning of the war. More than 9,000 people in Gaza have died in the Israeli airstrikes, according to Gazan officials.
New York Times
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