Key Points
- Israel's defence minister has said Israeli soldiers are operating in the heart of Gaza City.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would seek an "indefinite" security responsibility for Gaza.
- White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US opposed a "reoccupation" of Gaza by Israel.
Air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed a Hamas weapons maker and several fighters, the Israeli military said on Wednesday, as its air and ground offensive targeted the militants' tunnel network beneath the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Gaza City, the Hamas militant group's main stronghold in the territory, is encircled by Israeli forces. The military said troops have advanced to the heart of the densely-populated city while Hamas says its fighters have inflicted heavy losses.
With the war now entering its second month, United Nations officials stepped up their appeals for a humanitarian pause in the hostilities to help alleviate the suffering in Gaza, where buildings have been flattened and basic supplies are running out.
The level of death and suffering is "hard to fathom", UN health agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva.
"Every day, you think it is the worst day and then the next day is worse," Lindmeier said, quoting a colleague in Gaza.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since in which more than 1,400 people were killed, according to the Israeli government, and over 200 hostages taken.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, 40 per cent of them children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday two separate strikes eliminated a leading Hamas armourer, Mahsein Abu Zina, and fighters engaged in anti-tank or ground-to-ground rocket fire.
Palestinian media reported clashes between militants and Israeli forces near al-Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza City.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield claims of either side.
Source: SBS News
Chief Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israel's combat engineering corps were using explosive devices to destroy a that stretches for hundreds of kilometres beneath Gaza.
Israeli tanks have faced heavy resistance from Hamas fighters using the tunnel network to launch ambushes, two sources with Hamas and the separate militant group Islamic Jihad said. Israel says 32 of its soldiers have been killed.
Israelis have voiced fear that military operations could further endanger hostages, who are believed to be held in the tunnels.
Calls for ceasefire rejected
Israel says it until the hostages are released. Hamas says it won't stop fighting while Gaza is under attack.
"I challenge (Israel) if it has been able, to this moment, to record any military achievement on the ground other than killing civilians," senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera television.
Hamas' armed wing said late on Tuesday it fired missiles at Tel Aviv, and rocket sirens sounded in the Israeli city and other cities in central Israel.
Israel's stated intention is to wipe out Hamas, the Palestinian military and political group that gained power in the Gaza Strip after winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
While Israel's military operation is focused on the northern half of Gaza, the .
Palestinian health officials said at least 23 people were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Source: Getty / Ahmad Hasaballah
Washington opposes ceasefire and Israeli 'reoccupation' of Gaza
Washington has backed Israel's position that a ceasefire would help Hamas militarily.
But US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he had urged Israel's Prime Minister to undertake a pause in fighting.
Biden told Netanyahu that a three-day fighting pause could help secure the release of some hostages.
US national security spokesperson John Kirby said his government will continue to advocate for more humanitarian relief for civilians.
"The president spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu and he certainly discussed the need to continue to try to accelerate and increase the amount of humanitarian assistance that's going in," Kirby said.
"He also talked about the importance of pauses in the fighting to allow for aid to get in. People to get out and for hostages to be released. Will keep that dialogue going obviously with the Prime Minister and his war cabinet."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously said “durable peace and security” requires that there be "no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends." Source: EPA / Kimimasa Mayama / EPA
"Gaza cannot be continued to be run by Hamas. That simply invites repetition of October 7 ... It's also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza," Blinken told reporters after a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo.
"Now, the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict ... We don't see a reoccupation and what I've heard from Israeli leaders, is that they have no intent to reoccupy Gaza."
Legal experts call for Australian government to back ceasefire
Meanwhile, legal experts say Australia is failing civilians if the government does not fulfil its legal obligations to prevent genocide.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the foreign minister, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, hundreds of legal professionals and academics have urged the government to uphold international law by helping to secure a ceasefire.
"The well-accepted limits of have been exceeded," the letter says.
"Hamas's war crimes cannot be justified by reference to prior war crimes by Israel; neither do they justify further such crimes by Israel in its response."
The letter also called on the federal government to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza, advocate for an end to Israel's occupation of Palestine and stop defence exports to Tel Aviv.
Pro-Palestinian protesters bring Melbourne shipyard to a halt
A Melbourne shipyard has ground to a halt after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters blocked entry roads, preventing trucks from accessing the area where an Israeli shipping line operates.
Demonstrators linked to the Trade Unionists for Palestine group, draped in the Palestinian flag, lay on the road outside the Victorian International Container Terminal on Wednesday, blocking massive supply trucks.
They called for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the genocide in Gaza, and justice for Palestine.
Chants of "keep the children safe" blared through megaphones and the banging of drums echoed through the shipyard as more than 200 protesters waved Palestinian flags and brandished "Free Palestine" signs.
Protesters disrupt cargo trucks during a pro-Palestine protest by Trade Unionists for Palestine in Melbourne. Source: AAP / James Ross
The company's vessels have faced "block the boat protests" in ports around the world as pro-Palestinian supporters campaign against civilian deaths in Gaza.
Protesters in Sydney are set to rally against the arrival of the Israeli shipping company on Saturday when it arrives at Port Botany.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has warned those participating of the consequences of disrupting lawful trade.
Netanyahu: Israel would seek 'indefinite' security responsibility in Gaza
Israel has so far been vague about its long-term plans if it achieves its stated goal of vanquishing Hamas.
In some of the first direct comments on the subject, Netanyahu said Israel would seek to have security responsibility for Gaza "for an indefinite period" after the war.
But officials said Israel is not interested in governing the enclave. Gallant, Israel's defence minister, said that after the war was finished, neither Israel nor Hamas would rule Gaza.
Situation 'getting worse' each day for Gaza's civilians
Gaza's already dire living conditions have deteriorated further following a month of relentless bombardment.
Nearly two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are internally displaced, according to U.N. figures, with thousands seeking refuge at hospitals including in makeshift canvas shelters in their car parks.
At Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital, Um Haitham Hejela, a woman sheltering with young children in an improvised tent fashioned from fabric, said they fled their home because of airstrikes.
"The situation is getting worse day after day," she said. "There is no food, no water. When my son goes to pick up water, he queues for three or four hours in the line. They struck bakeries, we don't have bread."
The World Health Organization estimates 122,000 displaced Gazans are sheltering in hospitals, churches and other public buildings across the strip, with a further 827,000 in schools.
International organizations and Western countries have been urgently trying to get aid into the strip and get foreign nationals out.
People search through buildings that were destroyed during Israeli air raids in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Source: Getty / Ahmad Hasaballah
Humanitarian convoy comes under fire
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has accused Israeli forces of targeting a humanitarian convoy in Gaza City.
The humanitarian organisation says the convoy of five trucks was carrying lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities when it came under fire, damaging two trucks and wounding a driver.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also said the convoy had come under fire in Gaza City on Tuesday. After rerouting, the convoy delivered medical supplies to Al Shifa Hospital.
Calling the incident "deeply troubling," the ICRC did not identify the source of the firing.
More Australians leave via Rafah crossing
An Australian family of three has left war-torn Gaza through as the government continues efforts to help its citizens flee.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the family left overnight and was receiving support in Egypt.
Her department has so far helped 28 people leave the region but at least 76 more remain as the government continues advocate for the safe passage of foreign nationals from Gaza.
