Israel focuses assault on Gaza amid concern over spread of war

Israeli shelling killed 14 Palestinians on Thursday in Khan Younis in a southern coastal area of the Gaza Strip packed with people who had fled attacks in other parts of the enclave, Gaza health ministry officials said. The dead included nine children, an official told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the attack although it had separately reported fighting and air strikes against Hamas in the Khan Younis area on Thursday.

Gaza residents also said Israeli planes and tanks bombarded three refugee camps in the centre of the shattered enclave in heavier attacks than in previous days.

The latest action took place as Israel's war against Hamas neared the three-month mark amid international concern that the conflict was spreading beyond Gaza, drawing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and Red Sea shipping lanes.

Meanwhile, the ICJ "will hold public hearings at the Peace Palace in The Hague... in proceedings instituted by South Africa against Israel," on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 January, the court said in a statement.

Fears were heightened after a drone strike on Tuesday killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Wednesday that his powerful Iran-backed Shi'ite militia "cannot be silent" following the killing.

Nasrallah said his forces would fight to the finish if Israel chose to extend the war to Lebanon, but he made no concrete threats to act against Israel in support of its ally Hamas.

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."

Hezbollah has been embroiled in nearly daily exchanges of shelling with Israel across Lebanon's southern border since the Gaza war began. But US officials said on Wednesday they saw little sign that Hezbollah was about to escalate actions against Israel.

Israel unleashed a ground and air blitz of Gaza in response to the Hamas resistance campaign, and the total recorded Palestinian death toll had reached 22,313, almost 1% of its 2.3 million population, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Adding to the patchwork of violence across the region, two explosions on Wednesday killed nearly 100 people during a memorial ceremony for the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani at the cemetery in southeastern Iran where he is buried. No group has claimed responsibility.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was heading for the Middle East, including a stop in Israel, to continue "diplomatic consultations" on the Israel-Gaza conflict, a US official said.

Source: Agencies