Zein Khalil
14 January 2025•Update: 14 January 2025
JERUSALEM
The Israeli army has acknowledged that Hamas' military capabilities in Beit Hanoun remain largely intact, local media reported Monday, as 16 Israeli soldiers were killed in the area in northern Gaza in recent days.
“The town of Beit Hanoun claimed the lives of five Israeli soldiers today (Monday), joining ten other soldiers killed in the town ... within a week only,” said a report by the newspaper Israel Hayom.
According to the newspaper, the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the military campaign began in early October 2024 has risen to 55, with 16 deaths in Beit Hanoun alone.
On Monday, Israel's military reported that five soldiers were killed and eight others critically injured when a building in Beit Hanoun exploded.
An unnamed Israeli army officer told the newspaper that Beit Hanoun was heavily bombarded during the first incursion into the town in October 2023, resulting in the destruction of much of the area. One soldier was killed and others wounded in that initial raid.
“There is now an unimaginable number of Israeli fatalities in Beit Hanoun,” the officer said.
The report noted that the military now concedes that Hamas' local command network remains operational and that its commanders can still issue attack orders.
Hamas is reportedly employing guerrilla warfare tactics, with small units circumventing Israeli forces and launching attacks. Israel Hayom added that this strategy “often succeeds.”
Gaza's government media office said early Sunday that at least 5,000 Palestinians have been killed or remain missing in Israel’s ongoing assault on northern Gaza since Oct. 5.
Israel has continued its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 46,500 people, most of them women and children, since Hamas launched an attack on Oct. 7, 2023. This comes despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar
