Foreign
How decimated Hamas is preparing bloody LAST STAND in Khan Younis where ‘Gaza’s Bin Laden’ is hiding & baby Kfir is held As the world fearfully awaits what’s to unfold after the six-day truce, Israel promises more fighting as it vowed to destroy Hamas
HAMAS could be preparing to make its final stand in Khan Younis – the hiding spot of the terror chief known as “Gaza’s Bin Laden” after the ceasefire comes to an end.
Israel has told Gazans in Khan Younis to evacuate as it considers pushing the war south in a showdown with Hamas terror bosses.
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Hamas could be preparing to make its final stand with a terror showdown in Khan YounisCredit: EPA
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The war torn city has been destroyed by deadly airstrikes as residents are being urged to leave before fighting starts up again
IDF aircrafts dropped leaflets hours after at least 32 were killed during airstrike in Khan Younis, where terrorists are suspected to be hiding hostages, including 10-month-old baby Kfir.
“Every house used by terrorist organisations will be targeted,” the leaflets read.
They advised residents to evacuate now, or “expose their lives to danger”.
Khan Younis is a giant shelter for the displaced, with twice its normal 200,000 population crammed into makeshift shelters and camps.
13 Israeli hostages finally FREED 48 days after being kidnapped by Hamas
The refugee safe haven city is also home of Yahya Sinwar, firebrand local leader for Hamas and nicknamed “Gaza’s Bin Laden”.
Following four weeks of operations in the north, it appeared to be the first of many attacks in what Israel has labelled as a “new phase” of combat in Gaza’s southern half.
Colonel Richard Kemp, an ex-British army commander with links to the IDF, said Hamas “is in a very bad state now” and “desperate for breathing space”.
“Hamas will continue to fight, but of course many of them will try and leave – particularly the leaders,” he told The Sun Online.
“Some already have left will leave via tunnels into Egypt and escape to fight another day.
“Some will fight on, and we might see a kind of final stand of Hamas somewhere in Southern Gaza.”
Colonel Kemp said it’s likely that as Israel continues the destruction of Hamas, that some of Hamas’ terrorists will simply give up and melt into the civilian population, or even throw down their weapons and and effectively surrender.
“That, of course, leaves another problem because you’ve got radicalised terrorists among the civilian population – many of whom themselves are radicalised against Israel – which Israel will have contend with in the future,” the former army commander added.
The prospect of a showdown in Khan Younis could entail even more bloodshed in the besieged enclave, as Palestinian civilians have been left fleeing for their lives.
Families living in Gaza have been caught in the brutal crossfire, with regular accusations that the terrorists are attempting to use them as “human shields”.
Much of the northern part of the strip has been turned into a devastated warzone – with ruined buildings, dwindling supplies and horrific suffering for Gaza’s people.
During that time, over a million people from northern Gaza have fled south, following evacuation orders issued by Israeli commanders who claimed it would reduce civilian casualties.
The Red Cross estimates that some 1.5million civilians have been forced to flee south amid the Israeli onslaught from land, air and sea.
The UN on Saturday backed claims by the Hamas-run Gazan Health Ministry that “scores of people” had been killed in airstrikes on two UN-run schools in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya.
As the six-day truce between Hamas terrorists and Israel comes to an end on Wednesday, more bloodshed is expected to take place once IDF ground forces reach south.
Despite having fewer tunnel networks than Hamas in Gaza City, the former Silk Road settlement has a warren-like old town that could serve as a citadel, the Telegraph reports.
The move can be seen as part of Israel’s five-step plan to eliminate Hamas – wiping out terror nests from north to south of the Gaza Strip.
The move would benefit both Israeli and Palestinians living in the Gaza strip, bringing them “a basic but adequate measure of freedom of movement and civil services”, Israeli outlet YNet claims.
These include health, education, water, electricity, and public sanitation.
Israel’s next key objective would be to build a heavily-guarded defence line, including a closed military zone near border inside Gazan territory.
The army would then ensure to take pinpointed military action in Gaza after the war ends to foil any terror plots or rebuilding of terrorist infrastructure.
The IDF would then evacuate the area, but the country would still focus on a full and final demilitarisation of Gaza within five to 10 years.
To achieve this “exit plan”, Israel would cooperate closely with the United States.
The Biden administration, however, has issued urgent warnings to Israel regarding the next stage of its offensive in Gaza.
The US said a campaign in the south of the strip must not be as destructive as the one carried out up north, The Hill reports
An Israeli air strike on the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza has killed top Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official has told the BBC.
Locals say the air strike killed both Bardaweel, regarded as Hamas’s highest-ranking political leader, and his wife. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
The total death toll in Gaza since the war began surpassed 50,000 on Sunday, its Hamas-run health authorities said, with least 30 people killed in Khan Yunis and Rafah so far on Sunday.
Israel resumed heavy strikes on Gaza earlier this week – in effect ending the first phase of a ceasefire that lasted almost two months. It blamed Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the truce.
Is the war starting again in Gaza?
Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of abandoning the original deal – mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US. It envisaged the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the subsequent release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners – in addition to negotiations to end the war entirely and reconstruct Gaza.
In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said Bardaweel, 66, had been praying along with his wife when an Israeli missile struck their tent.
A father of eight, Bardaweel was one of Hamas’s most prominent political figures.
Born in Khan Younis refugee camp, he was known to be close to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and is considered part of the second generation of Hamas leadership, following the movement’s founders.
He headed the political wing of Hamas’s parliamentary bloc and was re-elected to the group’s political bureau in 2021.
Following the killing of Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha during the ongoing war, Bardaweel was regarded as Hamas’s highest-ranking political leader.
The air strike that killed Bardaweel was part of one of the most intense waves of aerial bombardment in southern Gaza since the collapse of the ceasefire agreement last Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told the BBC that Israeli forces were surrounding several of the organisation’s ambulances as they attempted to reach an area hit by an Israeli strike in Rafah.
He added that several paramedics were wounded, and contact had been lost with one of the trapped teams, which has been besieged for weeks.
The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for residents of the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah after the area was hit by heavy shelling and a limited ground assault.
The attack included tank fire from Israeli forces positioned along the Philadelphi Corridor on the border with Egypt, and helicopters also took part in the assault.
Alaa al-Din Sabah, a resident of the neighbourhood, said in a voice message to the BBC: “Bullets are raining down on us like it’s pouring. A woman was shot and is bleeding. Ambulances couldn’t reach her.”
“I can see one of the paramedics lying on the ground, screaming.”
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says, and there is large-scale destruction to homes and infrastructure in the Strip.
France’s Foreign Ministry expresses in a statement its “deep concern” at the renewed outbreak of fighting in southern Lebanon.
The Quai d’Orsay condemns rocket attacks against Israel from Lebanon over the weekend, while calling on Israel to exercise restraint in its response.
“France reiterates the importance of not compromising the significant progress made in recent months to ensure the security of Israelis and Lebanese people on both sides of the Blue Line,” the statement reads, adding that French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot conveyed these messages to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji.
The Houthis announced an aerial blockade on Ben-Gurion Airport and threatened any airlines that fly to Israel.
Yemen’s Houthis announced a blockade on Ben-Gurion Airport and warned major airlines from flying to Israel, the terror organization said in a Saturday morning statement.
“After the success of our Yemeni Armed Forces in cutting off Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, a blockade is imposed on Ben-Gurion Airport in occupied Palestine,” the Houthis wrote in a statement on X/Twitter.
The Houthis warned Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Air France, British Airways, United Airlines, and easyJet from flying to Israel for “everyone’s safety.”
Footage released by Houthi Military Media says to show a launch of missile, which the Houthis say they fired at Israel, at an unknown location in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released on December 19, 2024. (credit: Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS)
Houthis target Ben-Gurion Airport
The organization wrote that any other airlines flying to Ben-Gurion Airport would also be targeted.
“Please take the decision of the Yemeni Armed Forces seriously, as Ben-Gurion Airport is no longer safe until the aggression on Gaza stops,” the statement read.
The announcement comes after the Yemeni terrorist organization fired multiple ballistic missiles towards Israel in the past week.
The terror organization targeted Jerusalem with missiles for the third time in two months on Friday.
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