• Minister says Israel under attack from ‘seven fronts, has retaliated against six’
• Netanyahu claims ‘working on plan’ to expel Palestinians

GAZA: Internet and telephone services were cut again across the war-torn Gaza Strip on Tues­day, as the death toll from Israel’s relentless bombing campaign neared the 21,000-mark.

But despite immense pressure from the international community, Isr­aeli PM Benjamin Netan­yahu doubled down on his resolve to continue the war on Gaza.

Separately, his def­ence minister raised many eye­brows when he claimed that Israel was under attack from seven different sides, and that Tel Aviv had already taken action against six of them.

In a statement, Palest­i­nian telecommunicat­ions company Paltel said: “We regret to announce a complete breakdown of fixed telecommunicat­ions and internet services in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing offensive.” This was the fourth such breakdown since Oct 7.

Gaza’s health ministry, meanwhile, said that 241 Palestinians were killed and 382 were injured by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours. This took the total death toll to 20,915, with 54,918 injured.

In Jerusalem, Israel’s military said the air force carried out a strike against 100 Hamas targets, while it also claimed a number of attacks in Shejaia and Khan Yunis.

Netanyahu, who visited Israeli troops in nor­thern Gaza on Monday, said: “We are not stopping. The war will continue until the end, until we finish it, no less.”

Separately, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Netanyahu reiterated three prerequisites for peace: Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarised, and Palestinian society must be deradicalised.

Israel claims attacking six ‘theatres’

In a surprising revelation, right-wing hardliner Yoav Gallant — who is currently serving on Netanyahu’s cabinet as defence minister — claimed on Monday that Israel had retaliated in Iraq, Yemen and Iran for attacks carried out against it.

Referring to the widening of the conflict in Gaza, he told Israeli lawmakers: “We are in a multi-front war and are coming under attack from seven theatres: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria (West Bank), Iraq, Yemen and Iran. We have already responded and taken action in six of these theatres”.

However, he did not specify the one that had yet to see Israeli action

Since the Oct 7 Hamas raid, Israel has conducted several attacks against targets in Syria,Lebanon and Yemen. Recently, on Dec 17, IDF airstrikes hit Syrian forces near Damascus.

On the Lebanon border, Israel said it had launched retaliatory airstrikes against Hezbollah targets after 10 people were hurt by anti-tank missiles.

Netanyahu’s expulsion plan

Meanwhile, Middle East Eye reported on Monday that the Israeli PM had told his supporters he was working on finding countries ready to “absorb” Palestinians who would potentially be expelled from Gaza.

Quoting an Israeli publication, the outlet said Netanyahu made the comments at a meeting of his Likud party on Monday, in which he sought to clarify Israel’s plans for after the war had ended.

“Our problem is countries that are ready to absorb them and we are working on it,” Netanyahu said.

“The world is already discussing the possibilities of voluntary immigration,” he said, adding that a team must be established to “ensure that those who want to leave Gaza to a third country can do so. It needs to be settled. It has strategic importance for the day after the war.”

His statement echoes comments made by other senior Likud figures. Former minister Danny Danon, for example, has publicly called on western states to accept refugees from Gaza.

However, the UN and neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan have warned against the forced expulsion of Palestinians, saying that it amounts to a ‘war crime’.

Even Tel Aviv’s traditional allies, such as the US, EU and France have opposed the idea.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2023