Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
At least 20,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began bombarding the Palestinian enclave more than ten weeks ago, the local Government Media Office announced on December 20.
The office, which is run by the Hamas Movement, said in a statement that at least 8,000 children and 6,200 women were among those killed in Israeli bombardment on Gaza.
The next day, December 21, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that it had carried out airstrikes against some 230 Hamas targets in Gaza, and heavy fighting continued in the northern part of the Strip despite the army indicating ground operations there were wrapping up.
In Gaza City’s Jabalia neighborhood, a school where civilians had been sheltering was cleared out by troops of the 551st Brigade, who found several weapons belonging to Hamas operatives inside, the IDF said.
The IDF also said that in the Shati camp on the northern Gaza coast, the 14th Brigade spotted a group of Hamas fighters and called in an airstrike. The strike in Shati comes weeks after the IDF said it had full control of the area.
In the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the IDF said troops of the 7th Armored Brigade identified a group of Hamas fighters inside a building and called in an airstrike. A rocket launcher in the area was also hit as it prepared to fire projectiles at Israel, according to the IDF.
The Navy also carried out strikes overnight, the IDF said, adding that several vessels used by Hamas’s naval forces were hit.
Separately, the IDF announced that it had blown up a tunnel in Khan Younis that was used in a recent attack that claimed the lives of three of its troops.
The IDF sustained more losses during recent clashes in Gaza. On December 21, it announced the death of three troops, an infantryman in the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, a cadet in the Bahad 1 officers school’s Gefen Battalion who was previously a Givati squad commander and a cadet in the Gefen Battalion who was previously a soldier in the Paratrooper Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion. Eight other troops were wounded, according to the IDF.
The last three casualties have brought the death toll of Israeli troops since the beginning of ground operations in Gaza to 137.
Despite ongoing talks between Israel and Hamas, fighting in Gaza may go on until the end of the year. Work on a new deal that includes a temporary ceasefire and the release of some of the remaining Israeli hostages in the Strip could take weeks.
