Attack on Iran will be ‘lethal’ and ‘surprising’: Gallant

Israeli military pushes ahead with a large-scale operation in northern Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants.

Men carry injured woman to be evacuated in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Israel’s defence minister warned on Wednesday that his country’s retaliation for a recent Iranian missile attack would be “lethal” and “surprising” as the Israeli military pushed ahead with a large-scale operation in northern Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants.

“Our strike will be lethal, precise and above all, surprising. They won’t understand what happened and how. They will see the results,” Yoav Gallant said during a speech to troops. “Whoever strikes us will be harmed and pay a price.”

On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack that killed two people in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The town’s acting mayor, Ofir Yehezkeli, said the two killed were a ­couple walking their dogs.

In northern Gaza, there was heavy fighting in Jabalia, an urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, where Israeli forces have carried out several major operations over the course of the war and then returned as militants regroup. The entire north, including Gaza City, has suffered heavy destruction and has been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year.

In Gaza, Jabalia residents said thousands of people had been trapped in their homes since the operation began on Sunday, as Israeli jets and drones buzzed overhead and troops battled militants in the streets.

“It’s like hell. We can’t get out,” said Mohamed Awda, who lives with his parents and six siblings.

He said there were three bodies in the street outside his home that could not be retrieved because of the fighting.

“The quadcopters are everywhere, and fire at anyone. You can’t even open the window,” he said by phone, speaking over the sound of explosions.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabalia from Sunday until Tuesday, and another 14 from communities farther north.

There are likely more bodies under rubble and in areas that can’t be accessed, it said.

Jabalia residents fear Israel aims to depopulate the north and turn it into a closed military zone or Jewish settlement. Israel has blocked all roads except for the main highway leading south from Jabaliya, according to residents.

“People here say clearly that they will die here in northern Gaza and won’t go to southern Gaza,” Ahmed Qamar, who lives in Jabalia with his wife, children and parents, said in a text message.

Fadel Naeem, the director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, said it had received dozens of wounded people and bodies from the north.

“We declared a state of emergency, suspended scheduled surgeries, and discharged patients whose conditions are stable,” he said in a text message.

Israel’s offensive has gutted Gaza’s health sector, forcing most hospitals to shut down and leaving the rest only partially functioning.

Israeli security forces and emergency personnel deploy at a site hit by rockets fired from Lebanon in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona. Picture: AFP

Israel’s authority co-ordinating humanitarian affairs in Palestinian territories said Israel “has not halted the entry or co-ordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip”. Israel says it targets only militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it fights in residential areas.

Israel ordered the wholesale evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in the opening weeks of the war but hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have remained there.

Israel re­iterated those instructions at the weekend, telling ­people to flee south to a humanitarian zone where hundreds of thousands are already crammed into squalid tent camps.

The war began just over a year ago, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250.

They still hold around 100 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not say how many were fighters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until “total victory” over Hamas and the return to Israel of all hostages. In recent weeks, Israel has waged a heavy air campaign across large parts of Lebanon, targeting what it says are Hezbollah rocket launchers and militant sites. Strikes have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.

AP