Palestinian fighters still present in northern Gaza: Report

The latest report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) says Palestinian armed fighters still maintain a presence in northern Gaza Strip.

The report also quoted an Israeli military official as claiming that most of the local Hamas battalion commanders in the area have been killed but dozens of fighters are still active and are now in “guerilla mode”.

Israel has also carried on with its operations in Khan Younis in the south.

The Israeli army has recently claimed it has “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’s command structure in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel’s military chief has also stated that the conflict in Gaza, persisting for three months already, would likely last throughout 2024 and spill over to other fronts. Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), stated 2024 would be “challenging” and that Israel would “certainly be involved in fighting in Gaza throughout the year”, implying that the current full-scale conflict with Hamas could ease but not end.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing more than 23,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring nearly 60,000 others, according to local health authorities.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

About 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s initial attack on Israel.