Israel-Hamas war: Palestinians will keep Gaza, minister says

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday it had killed several Hamas members in tunnels in the Gaza Strip.

An underground system several hundred meters long has been destroyed, the army said, and Hamas' combat capabilities in the area around the city of Khan Younis have been significantly reduced.

"(We) completed a targeted activity at a Hamas compound in central Gaza, where they identified several tunnel shafts leading to a network of hundreds of meters of Hamas tunnels," the army posted on social media.

The information could not be independently verified.

The Hamas terror attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people, while some 240 others were taken hostage. The IDF posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday: "Today, I would like to update that three Israeli citizens, who until now were defined as missing, are now recognized as hostages. They join Hadar, Oron, Hisham and Avera, bringing the total number of Israeli hostages held in Gaza to 136."

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday said Palestinians will be in charge of Gaza after Israel's war against Hamas ends.

"Hamas will not rule Gaza, and Israel will not exercise civil control over Gaza," Gallant said in comments cited by Reuters news agency and other media outlets. "Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore, Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel."

Gallant added that Israel would retain the right to operate militarily in Gaza. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often refrained from giving a clear outline for post-war Gaza. Netanyahu has earlier said that not only would Hamas not rule Gaza, but neither would Fatah, which currently controls the West Bank.   

Arab and Muslim countries have also been reluctant to take political control over Gaza after the ongoing war. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to the Middle East on Thursday to intensify diplomatic efforts amid heightened concerns the Israel-Hamas war could become a broader regional conflict.

In addition to a previously announced stop in Israel and the occupied West Bank, Blinken was set to visit Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece over the next week, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. 

"It is in no one's interest — not Israel's, not the region's, not the world's — for this conflict to spread beyond Gaza," Miller said.

Blinken has made multiple trips to the region since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7.

"We don't expect every conversation on this trip to be easy," Miller said. "There are obviously tough issues facing the region and difficult choices ahead."

Miller added that Blinken would focus on expanding humanitarian aid to Gaza, urging Israel to minimize civilian Palestinian casualties, the release of hostages held by Hamas and the importance of planning for the administration of a post-war Gaza.

Thousands of people in Beirut attended the funeral of Hamas deputy leader Saleh Arouri and two other Hamas members on Thursday.

Arouri's assassination in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday heightened regional tensions fueled by the Israel-Hamas war and fears that it could spill over into surrounding countries.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Wednesday that his Iran-backed Shiite militia "cannot be silent" following the killing.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari declined to comment when asked what Israel was doing to prepare for a potential Hezbollah response, saying only: "We are focused on the fight against Hamas."

Some mourners at Arouri's funeral were chanting "freedom for Palestine" and others "death to America and Israel."

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported that at least 22,438 people have been killed since the start of the war with Israel.

According to the ministry, there had been at least 125 fatalities over the past 24 hours.

Gaza's Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties. Officials report that the majority of people killed have been women and children. 

The ministry said 57,614 people have been wounded in the fighting.

Israel declared war after Hamas militants stormed across the border on October 7, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians,  in Israel and taking about 240 hostages. According to the United Nations, the Israeli military operation in Gaza has displaced about 85% of the enclave's 2.3 million residents. 

Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Israel, and other governments.

United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk said he was "very disturbed by high-level Israeli officials' statements," regarding plans to transfer civilians from the Gaza Strip to third countries.

"85% of people in Gaza are already internally displaced," Türk said on social media. "They have the right to return to their homes."

Türk stressed that international law "prohibits forcible transfer of protected persons within or deportation from occupied territory."

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday called for "a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza's residents." 

His comments have stirred controversy, coming after similar statements by Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who also urged the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza after the war.

However, the Israeli government has not officially suggested plans to evict Gazans or to send Jewish settlers back to the territory since the war with Hamas broke out in October.

Eighteen shipping companies are avoiding the Red Sea and rerouting their ships around South Africa following a number of attacks, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has said.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told the UN Security Council in New York that they were acting "to reduce the attacks on vessels and … the impact this has on seafarers in particular."

Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in early October, the Yemen-based Houthi rebels have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea to prevent them from traveling to Israel.

On Wednesday, Christopher Lu, the US deputy ambassador to the UN,  told the Security Council that the Iran-backed Houthis "pose grave implications for maritime security, international shipping and commerce."

A joint statement issued later by the US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK warned of collective action if the Houthi attacks did not cease immediately.

On Tuesday, Danish shipping giant Maersk announced the suspension of its freight traffic in the region after one of its ships, the Maersk Hangzhou, was targeted in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Red Sea is a major trade corridor, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal in Egypt. The diversion via South Africa's Cape of Good Hope has raised ocean freight rates and the delivery time of goods.

The United States has criticized the case being brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by South Africa.

The Hague-based court is set to begin public hearings next week after South Africa alleged that Israel is committing "genocidal acts against the people in Gaza."

But White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the filing "meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever."

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also cast doubt on the allegations. "We have not at this point seen acts that constitute genocide."

"Genocide is, of course, a heinous atrocity," Miller told reporters. "Those are allegations that should not be made lightly."

South Africa, which has often condemned Israel's treatment of Palestinians and drawn comparisons with its own history of apartheid, accused Israel of acting "with the requisite specific intent ... to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group."

It is seeking an order to compel Israel to cease its military operations in Gaza. Israel has said it will defend itself in the ICJ, and accused South Africa of perpetrating ancient "blood libel" conspiracies.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to the Middle East on Thursday in a bid to ramp up diplomatic efforts, amid heightened concerns the Israel-Hamas war could spiral into a broader regional conflict.

In a recent briefing, a senior US official said on condition of anonymity that Blinken's journey will begin Thursday evening "for stops in a number of capitals, including Israel."

Additionally, diplomatic envoy Amos Hochstein will join the efforts in Israel to address tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hamas' deputy leader, Saleh Arouri, was killed in a strike in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday. A day later, explosions tore through a crowd of people in Iran commemorating the fourth anniversary of the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Wednesday's blast killed at least 95 people.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said it was not in the interest of any country "to see this conflict escalated any further than it already is."

Blinken has made multiple trips to Israel, including with US President Joe Biden, since the October 7 terror attacks by the Hamas militant group.

Hamas is considered a terrorist group by Germany, the European Union, the United States and other governments. 

The visit also comes after Biden's recent discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu focusing on improving humanitarian access to Gaza and securing the release of hostages held by Hamas.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has raised the concern of the heavy toll on civilians in Gaza with Netanyahu and criticized Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's call for the removal of all Gazans. But support for Israel looks to have placed Biden in a tricky position with some elements of the Democratic Party ahead of the US presidential election later this year.

ss/kb (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)