28 killed as Israel threatens to step up Gaza strikes

GAZA STRIP

Israeli strikes killed 28 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the authorities have said, a day after Israel warned that it will intensify its strikes in the war-torn Palestinian territory if Hamas keeps up its rocket fire.

Among those killed were Hamas’ police chief Mahmud Salah and his deputy Hussam Shahwan, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency.

Nearly 15 months of war have devastated Gaza's infrastructure and institutions, leading aid agencies to warn of the breakdown of social order.

Over the past week, Palestinian militants have repeatedly fired rockets at Israel, particularly from northern Gaza, where the Israeli military is conducting a major offensive.

"I want to send a clear message from here to the heads of the terrorists in Gaza: If Hamas does not soon allow the release of the Israeli hostages from Gaza... and continues firing at Israeli communities, it will face blows of an intensity not seen in Gaza for a long time," Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

His warning came after a visit to the Israeli town of Netivot, which was recently targeted by rocket fire from nearby Gaza.

The population of Gaza has fallen 6 percent since the war with Israel began nearly 15 months ago as about 100,000 Palestinians left the enclave while more than 55,000 are presumed dead, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

Around 45,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, have been killed since the war began but another 11,000 are missing, the bureau said.

In Israel’s domestic politics landspace, former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who was dismissed in November, announced on Jan. 1 that he would resign from parliament.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gallant disagreed on several issues, notably the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from military service.

In another development, the High Court invalidated a clause in a bill dubbed the "Ben-Gvir bill," which grants National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir the authority to delineate policies with regard to police investigations.