Israel military detains hundreds in Gaza campaign
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military on Saturday said troops arrested hundreds of terrorists in Gaza over the past week and transferred more than 200 of them to Israel for further interrogation.
The army said more than 700 people with ties to the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have so far been sent to Israeli lockups.
Israel declared war after Hamas terrorists stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages. Israel has vowed to keep up the fight until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and all the hostages are freed.
President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, calling it a long and private conversation.
Netanyahu and his government faced pressure at home, with calls to get the remaining hostages freed.
“Bibi, Bibi retire. We don’t want you anymore,” a crowd of thousands chanted in Tel Aviv.
The Biden administration has shielded Israel in the diplomatic arena. On Friday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution that calls for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to civilians in Gaza, but not for a cease-fire.
More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war to destroy Hamas, according to health officials in Gaza, a territory ruled by the Islamic terrorist group for the past 16 years.
A Gaza City strike killed 76 people from the al-Mughrabi family, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense department. Among those killed were Issam al-Mughrabi, a veteran employee of the U.N. Development Program, his wife, and their five children.
Later Friday, a strike pulverized the Nuseirat home of Mohammed Khalifa, a local TV journalist, killing him and at least 14 others, according to officials at the nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, citing the terrorists’ use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has launched thousands of airstrikes since Oct. 7.
The military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said late Friday that forces are widening the ground offensive “to additional areas of the strip, with a focus on the south.” He said operations were also continuing in the northern half of Gaza, the initial focus of Israel’s ground offensive. The army said that it carried out airstrikes against Hamas terrorists in several locations of Gaza City.
The army statement on detentions followed earlier Palestinian reports of large-scale roundups of teenage boys and men from homes, shelters and hospitals in northern Gaza where ground troops have established firmer control.
Hamas called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and other global organizations to put pressure on Israeli authorities to reveal the whereabouts and conditions of hundreds of people in Gaza who were detained.
Israel’s military has denied abuse allegations and said those without links to terrorists were quickly released.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas terrorists, including about 2,000 in the past three weeks. It says 139 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive.
Following the U.N. resolution, it was not immediately clear how and when aid deliveries would accelerate. Currently, trucks enter through two crossings — Rafah on the border with Egypt and Kerem Shalom on the border with Israel. On Friday, fewer than 100 trucks entered the crossings, the U.N. said.
Both crossings were closed Saturday by mutual agreement among Israel, Egypt and the U.N., Israeli officials said.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.