Israel pushes ahead with Gaza as conflict enters 100th day

More than three months into the conflict with Hamas, Israel's ground operations and bombardment, while less intense than before, are still going on. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the strip has risen to 23,843, updated the Gaza-based Health Ministry on Saturday. 

The ministry said in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 135 Palestinians and wounded 312 others during the past 24 hours.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel will not be deterred by a case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where it is accused of genocide in Gaza, AFP reports. 

"No one will stop us – not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil, no one," he told a news conference, referring to Hamas and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Houthi militias which have offered their support.

"It is possible and necessary to continue until victory, and we will do it," he said, adding that most of the Hamas battalions in Gaza have been "eliminated."

During a press briefing on Saturday, Netanyahu said Israel is considering regaining control of the "Philadelphi Corridor," a 14-kilometer strip of land that serves as a buffer zone on the border between Egypt and Gaza.

Border tensions escalate

Israeli soldiers exchanged fire with militants attempting to cross from Lebanon into Israel and killed four of them, according to Reuters, citing the Israeli military on Sunday.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix on Saturday urged Lebanon and Israel to de-escalate their border tension.

Lacroix made the call at the end of his four-day visit to Lebanon, according to a statement carried by Lebanon's National News Agency.

"We continue to urge all actors to cease fire, as each day of confrontations increases the risk of a larger and more devastating conflict," Lacroix said in the statement.

He added that since the exchange of fire began between the two sides, dozens of civilians and journalists have been injured and killed, and the UN peacekeeping mission's positions in the area have been hit several times, wounding three peacekeepers.

He also urged the conflicting parties to "cease-fire, recommit to UN Resolution 1701 and work toward a durable political and diplomatic solution," stressing that "this is the only way to achieve lasting peace."

'Strong and effective response'

The Houthi militia threatened a "strong and effective response" on Saturday, after the United States carried out another strike in Yemen overnight, further ratcheting up tensions as Washington vowed to protect shipping from attacks by the Iran-aligned movement, according to Reuters. 

The recent U.S.-Britain airstrikes against Yemen's Houthis could worsen the regional situation and expand the scope of the conflict there, an Iranian analyst has said.

The strikes hit the capital Sanaa and other areas where the Houthis have military sites.

The United States and Britain said they were responding to the rebels' attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea in recent weeks, while the Houthis said they attacked the ships to show solidarity with the Palestinians and to pressure Israel to end its attacks on Gaza.

The U.S.-British strikes will not stop the Houthis from continuing their operations and could provoke retaliation from their allies, said Hassan Beheshtipour, a Tehran-based international affairs analyst, Xinhua reports.

United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg issued an urgent appeal on Saturday, calling on all conflicting parties to exercise maximum restraint amid a dangerous escalation in regional tensions.

In a brief press statement released by his office, Grundberg reiterated calls made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for all parties involved to avoid actions that would worsen the situation in Yemen, escalate the threat to maritime trade routes in the Red Sea, or further fuel regional tensions at this critical time.

Clock 'ticking fast towards famine' in Gaza

The Israeli siege has sparked an acute shortage of food, water, medicine and fuel in Gaza, where the health system is collapsing, according to AFP.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said during a visit to the Gaza Strip on Saturday that "the massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss and grief of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity."

He warned that an entire generation of children in Gaza were being "traumatized," diseases were spreading and the clock was "ticking fast towards famine."

Winter rains have exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN estimates 1.9 million, nearly 85 percent of the population, have been displaced.

Many have sought shelter in Rafah and other southern areas where the health ministry says there isn't the infrastructure to support them.

As the fighting continued, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said the death and destruction over the past 100 days was "staining our shared humanity," Reuters reports. 

At Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, a handful of doctors said they were struggling in a now "collapsed" healthcare system, the report added. 

(With input from agencies)