Israel seeks 10,000 more troops amid conscription row; airstrikes kill dozens in Gaza

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13 hours ago

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached dire lows, with residents enduring severe shortages of food and other essentials, even after a more than two-month Israeli blockade on aid was recently eased. Source: AAP / Mohammed Saber / EPA Israeli strikes killed at least 38 people in Gaza as the Palestinian territory observed the Eid al-Adha holiday , according to local authorities, as Israel's military plans to call up tens of thousands more troops for its offensive. Gaza's civil defence agency reported Israeli attacks across the besieged enclave on Friday as Palestinians observed the Eid al-Adha under the shadow of war for a second consecutive year. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's strikes, Agence France-Presse reported. It comes as the humanitarian situation in Gaza reaches dire new lows, with residents enduring severe shortages of food and other essentials, even after a more than two-month Israeli blockade on aid was recently eased with a controversial new program . In Israel, military spokesman Effie Defrin said four Israeli soldiers were killed as they "were operating in the Khan Yunis area, in a compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation". "Around six in the morning, an explosive device detonated, causing part of the structure to collapse," he said, adding that five other soldiers were wounded, one of them severely. "The losses suffered today by the occupation in Khan Younis ... illustrate what the occupation forces will face wherever they are present," said a statement attributed to Abu Obeida, spokesman for the armed of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, while urging the Israeli public to "force its leaders to end the war of extermination or prepare to receive more of its sons in coffins".
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the soldiers' families, saying they "sacrificed their lives for the safety of all of us". The deaths bring to 429 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive in late October 2023, according to Agence France-Presse.
Israel recently stepped up its Gaza campaign in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas — the Palestinian military and political group that rules Gaza — whose 7 October 2023 attack sparked the war, a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict. But the ramping up of its offensive comes amid a row over the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews — an issue that's threatened to sink Netanyahu's government. Ultra-Orthodox religious parties have warned they will pull out of Netanyahu's coalition if the prime minister fails to make good on a promise to codify in law the military exemption for their community. At the same time, much of the public has turned against the exemption amid the increasing strain put on reservists' families by repeated call-up orders during the war. Asked by a reporter about the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription, Defrin said: "This is the need of the moment, an operational necessity". The army was short around 10,000 soldiers, he added, including about 6,000 in combat roles, adding that "tens of thousands more notices will be issued in the upcoming draft cycle".
In April, a military representative told a parliamentary committee that of 18,000 draft notices sent to ultra-Orthodox individuals, only 232 received a positive response. Netanyahu's office announced shortly after 1am on Friday that he had met with a lawmaker from his Likud party who has recently pushed for a bill aimed at increasing the ultra-Orthodox enlistment and toughening sanctions on those who refuse. The premier's office said "significant progress was made", with "unresolved issues" to be ironed out later. Netanyahu also faced scrutiny after he admitted to supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes Hamas. Knesset member and ex-defence minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu's direction, was "giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons". The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes the group a "criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks".
The marking of Eid al-Adha also comes as aid distribution in Gaza was halted after the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations, in the latest disruption to its troubled relief effort. In a day of confusing messaging, the GHF — the organisation that has sought to replace United Nation's distribution of aid to Gaza— first announced its distribution sites in southern Gaza were closed, then it revealed that it had actually handed out food, before saying that it had had to close its gates as a precautionary measure. "The distribution was conducted peacefully and without incident; however, it was paused due to excessive crowding that made it unsafe to proceed," it said in a statement. Food shortages have made it all but impossible for many Gazans to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which fell on Friday and is traditionally marked with huge family meals and gifts of new clothes.
Suad al-Qarra told Agence France-Presse from Nasser Hospital on Friday that her son never got a chance to wear his new clothes. "He went to get dressed and there was an explosion," she said, her soft voice breaking. "I took him to the hospital and (they) found him dead." "They took the children from us," she continued. "I bought him Eid clothes yesterday and he didn't wear them, instead he wears a white shroud." In the Muslim faith, Eid commemorates the sacrifice Ibrahim — known to Christians and Jews as Abraham — was about to make by killing his son, before the angel Gabriel intervened and offered him a sheep to sacrifice instead. Hamas' unprecedented 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 4,402 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 after a brief truce, taking the war's overall toll to 54,677, mostly civilians. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. In 2021 the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories dating back to 2014, including the recent attacks of both Israel and Hamas. The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former defence chief, alleging that the two are criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza". Hamas in its entirety is listed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and seven other countries, including Australia. But the UN Assembly rejected classifying Hamas as a terrorist group in a 2018 vote.