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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to achieve victory following ongoing conflicts in the Gaza strip and Lebanon.
Netanyahu, who spoke with troops, said Israel “will win” as it battles militants.
Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said that one year on, “We have defeated the military wing of Hamas”.
Netanyahu had pledged to “crush… and destroy” the militants as fighting began last October, but troops have returned to several areas across Gaza where they had previously conducted operations against Hamas, only to find militants regrouping.
In late September, Israel turned its focus north, intensifying military action against Iran-backed Hezbollah, which had engaged strategically in sending rockets over the border from Lebanon in support of Hamas.
“A year ago, we suffered a terrible blow. Over the past 12 months, we have completely transformed reality,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Lebanon border, according to his office.
Hamas on Sunday called the October 7, 2023 attack “glorious” and said the Palestinians were “writing a new history with their resistance”.
Their attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Dozens of other hostages are still held.
At last 370 people were killed at one location alone, the Nova rave in the Negev desert, which was commemorated with candles, prayer and music in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Rescuers said 17 people, including nine children, had been killed on Sunday by Israeli air strikes on the Jabaliya area, in northern Gaza.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,870 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry and described as reliable by the UN.
Most of Gaza’s population is displaced and much of the territory’s housing and other infrastructure destroyed.
Despite fighting, which has escalated in Lebanon since late September, and the threat of war with Iran, Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call that Israel’s actions in Lebanon would help bring “stability, security and peace in the entire region”, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati appealed to the international community to push Israel for a ceasefire.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said in a pre-recorded interview that Washington was “not going to stop” pressuring Israel and Arab leaders to agree a Gaza truce.
Hezbollah said on Sunday it launched attack drones towards a military base near the northern Israeli city of Haifa. It later said it had targeted a second base nearby with a salvo of rockets.
Israel’s military said rockets fired from northern Gaza had crossed into Israel, with one intercepted and the rest falling on open areas.
Israeli officials including Netanyahu have said Israel will respond to Iran’s missile barrage, most of which was intercepted by the country’s sophisticated air defences.
Iran has prepared its own plan to respond to a possible Israeli attack, Tasnim news agency reported, citing an informed source.
Across Lebanon, strikes have killed more than 1,110 people since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Lebanon’s Director General of Education Imad Achkar said on Sunday that 40 per cent of Lebanon’s 1.25 million school pupils had been displaced by Israel’s strikes.
Several countries have been evacuating their nationals from Lebanon, including Nigeria.
Ahead of the October 7 anniversary, tens of thousands of protesters are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.
AFP.
