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Student protesters passionately say they will continue until administrators meet demands that include permanent ceasefire in Gaza
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Israel says it has encircled Gaza City
The concept of a ceasefire is not currently on the table at all, spokesman says
Flashes are seen lighting up the sky during an Israeli military attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. — AFP
Israeli forces on Thursday encircled Gaza City — the Gaza Strip's main city — in their assault on Hamas, the military said, but the Palestinian militant group resisted their drive with hit-and-run attacks from underground tunnels.
The city in the north of the Gaza Strip has become the focus of attack for Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the group's command structure and has told civilians to flee to the south.
"We're at the height of the battle. We've had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. He gave no further details.
Amid heavy explosions in Gaza, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari told reporters his country's "troops completed the encirclement of Gaza City, which is the focal point of Hamas."
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Israeli forces have engaged in fierce ground battles inside the Palestinian territory since Friday evening even as calls grow for Israel to stop its blistering air and ground assault.
"The concept of a ceasefire is not currently on the table at all," Hagari said.
As Blinken left Washington for the Middle East, he said he would discuss concrete steps to minimise harm to civilians in Gaza. The White House, meanwhile, said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localised, and insisted they would not stop Israel defending itself.
Mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians, along with acute shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, have intensified calls by global leaders for a pause in fighting or a ceasefire.
AFP
Israel has dismissed those calls, saying it targets Hamas fighters whom it accuses of intentionally hiding among the population and civilian buildings. The White House has also rejected calls for a ceasefire.
Gaza health authorities say at least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
A group of independent United Nations experts warned Palestinians there are at "grave risk of genocide".
"We call on Israel and its allies to agree to an immediate ceasefire. We are running out of time," the group of UN special rapporteurs said in a statement.
The Israeli mission to the U.N. in Geneva called the rapporteur's comments "deplorable and deeply concerning" and blamed Hamas for the civilian deaths. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a determination of genocide could only be made by a relevant UN judicial body.
Israel says Hamas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages in the attack on October 7.
'Hamas prepared itself well'
Brig General Iddo Mizrahi, chief of Israel's military engineers, said troops were encountering mines and booby traps.
"Hamas has learned and prepared itself well," he said.
Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, said in a televised speech on Thursday that Israel's death toll in Gaza was much higher than the military had announced. "Your soldiers will return in black bags," he said.
Israel has said it has lost 18 soldiers and killed dozens of militants since ground operations expanded on Friday.
Hamas and allied Islamic Jihad fighters were emerging from tunnels to fire at tanks, then disappearing back into the network, residents said and videos from both groups showed.
In one Hamas military video, a fighter surfaces in a Gaza field and places an explosive device on a tank. An explosion is audible as the fighter, who appears to be wearing a body camera to document the incident, sprints back to the tunnel and fires an anti-tank missile toward the tank.
Palestinian civilians have suffered shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine.
"Water is being used as a weapon of war," said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.
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