Israel ready to fight Hamas ‘for months or longer’, to open second crossing

Israel said it is prepared to fight for months or longer to defeat Gaza’s Hamas rulers, as its ground offense intensifies with more airstrikes and artillery fire.

Qatar, which has played a key mediating role, says efforts to stop the war and have all hostages released will continue, but a willingness to discuss a ceasefire is fading.

Israel faces international outrage after its military offensive has killed more than 17,700 Palestinians in Gaza, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. About 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced within the besieged territory, where UN agencies say there is no safe place to flee.

The United States has provided vital support to Israel in recent days by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire and pushing through an emergency sale of over USD 100 million worth of tank ammunition to Israel. The UN General Assembly plans to vote Tuesday on a similar resolution.

Israel says 97 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 hostages.

With only a trickle of humanitarian aid reaching a small portion of Gaza, residents face severe shortages of food, water and other basic goods. Some observers worry that Palestinians will be forced out of Gaza altogether.

Second crossing

Israel says it is opening a second crossing to inspect cargo entering the Gaza Strip — a step meant to increase the amount of humanitarian aid for the besieged territory.

Israeli security officials said the Kerem Shalom crossing would open Tuesday for inspections of Gaza-bound goods. Currently, Israel’s Nitzana crossing is the only inspection point in operation.

Israel has greatly restricted the amount of goods entering Gaza since war with Hamas erupted on October 7, causing shortages in food, medicine and basic supplies. The UN and international aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis.

Israel does not allow any aid to enter Gaza directly. Instead, it inspects all Gaza-bound cargo before it is delivered by the aid organizations through Egypt.

In a joint statement, the Israeli military and COGAT, a defence agency responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said the opening of Kerem Shalom would “improve and upgrade the capabilities and volume of security screening of the humanitarian aid being admitted into the Gaza Strip.”

US “concerned”

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US is “concerned” about reports that Israel deployed US-provided white phosphorus munitions during an October incident in southern Lebanon.

“We’ve seen the reports — certainly concerned about that,” Kirby said. “We’ll be asking questions to try to learn a little bit more.” Reports about possible use of white phosphorous munitions by Israel was first reported by the Washington Post on Monday.

Kirby said white phosphorus does have a “legitimate military utility” when used for illumination and producing smoke to conceal movements.

“Obviously, anytime that we provide items like white phosphorus to another military, it is with a full expectation that it will be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes and in keeping with the law of armed conflict.” Kirby said the administration has repeatedly made clear that it does not want to see a second front open in the Israel-Hamas war.

“We absolutely don’t want to see this conflict spill over into Lebanon,” Kirby said. “And so it is also in the context of that we’re concerned about these reports.”

Push for new sanctions against Hamas

The French, German and Italian foreign ministers are pushing for speedy adoption of new EU sanctions against Hamas for its “atrocious and indiscriminate terror attacks” against Israel on October 7.

“The swift adoption of this sanctions regime will allow us to send a strong political message about the European Union’s commitment against Hamas and our solidarity with Israel,” the three ministers wrote in a letter Monday to Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs.

The letter does not detail possible sanctions, but said it should enable the targeting of Hamas members, affiliated groups and supporters. The ministers said they broadly support a framework that Borrell outlined last week.

Foreign ministers of the 27-member bloc are meeting in Brussels on Monday. The EU on Friday froze the funds and other assets in Europe of the commander general of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, and deputy commander Marwan Issa.

(With AP inputs)