GAZA: Israeli tanks on Tuesday stormed back into parts of the northern Gaza Strip they had left last week, reigniting some of the most intense fighting since the New Year when Israel announced it was scaling back its operations there.

Massive explosions shook northern areas of Gaza from across the border with Israel — a rarity over the past two weeks after Tel Aviv announced a drawdown of forces from the area as part of a transition to smaller, targeted operations.

The rattle of gunfire reverberated across the border through the night. In the morning, contrails snaked through the sky as Israel’s Iron Dome defences shot down rockets fired across the fence.

Israel claimed its forces had killed “dozens” of Hamas fighters overnight in clashes in Beit Lahiya, on Gaza’s northern edge.

Health authorities said the last 24 hours of Israeli bombing had killed 158 people in the Palestinian enclave, raising their toll for the war to 24,285, with thousands more bodies feared lost in the rubble.

158 Palestinians killed overnight; death toll hits 24,285

The Israeli bombardment has driven nearly all Gazans from their homes, some several times, and caused a humanitarian crisis, with food, fuel and medical supplies running low.

Change of plans

Some of the hundreds of thousands of residents who fled the north in October had begun returning last week to bombed-out areas where the Israelis had withdrawn. But residents said on Tuesday the resurgence of fighting in the north would now halt plans to try to go home.

“We almost planned to return to our house in Nazla, east of Jabalia, but thank God we didn’t. This morning people living nearby arrived here and told us the tanks pushed back there,” said Abu Khaled, 43, now living with relatives in severely damaged Gaza City.

“The sounds of bombing from the tanks, from the planes didn’t stop all night. It reminded us of the first day of the ground incursion.”

Israeli forces have fought their way to the centre of Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis, and into towns north and east of the central city of Deir Al Balah.

Israeli commando forces carried out targeted raids in Khan Yunis to “take out Hamas’s infrastructure”, including offices of several senior regional commanders, the military said.

The Gaza crisis has inflamed tensions across the region, including in the Red Sea, where the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls most of Yemen has been attacking commercial ships. The route is used by 15pc of world shipping.

The United States and Britain responded by bombing Yemen to prevent what they called a threat to global commerce.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2024