Nowhere is safe in Gaza: 'We will continue to strike high-value Hamas targets,' says Israel; junks ceasefire calls

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said that Hamas is sacrificing the people of Gaza as “human shields” adding that the country “won’t be deterred and will continue dismantling Hamas.” In an interview with CNN, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said, “The population in Gaza continues to pay the price for the atrocities of Hamas. This is a war that we didn’t want and we didn’t start. We are now responding to Hamas regression.” An Israeli strike in a densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza has left several dead and has caused catastrophic damage according to eyewitnesses in the region. IDF has claimed that the strike in the Jabaliya refugee camp killed Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari who was one of the leaders involved in attacking Israel on October 7. The airstrike reportedly killed 50 people in a refugee camp. Talking about the attack, Conricus said, “The person that we killed, the senior Hamas commander, was vital in planning the attack (of October 7) and that is why we struck him. We do not target civilians and it is sad when they are caught in the middle.” ‘IDF repeatedly warning civilians to vacate’ The Israel military had been advising people living in northern Gaza to move south even before it launched a ground operation in the region. “We have been asking civilians for two weeks to vacate the area. I am sure that many more would have vacated had it not been for Hamas which has actively been stopping the evacuation,” Conricus said. The spokesperson added that the IDF has been warning people whenever possible and has done everything to mitigate the effect on civilians. However, he said that in the case of the Jabaliya refugee airstrike, the military could not issue a warning because they were targeting a leader of Hamas. ‘Israel has averted strikes to save human lives’ On being asked whether preserving human lives is more important than striking a target, Conricus said, “When a terrorist is in a tunnel complex, you have to use significant firepower in order to get to the tunnels.” He added, “We have averted strikes because we saw that the situation on the ground and the balance between civilians and the military aims did not justify such a strike.” ‘IDF never said it won’t strike Hamas targets in S. Gaza’ The IDF has continued to launch strikes in southern Gaza, the place where it asked civilians in northern Gaza to move to avoid the effects of the ground operation. However, Conricus clarified that the IDF has never said it would not strike Hamas targets in southern Gaza when it advised people to move there from northern Gaza. “We have said continuously that we will keep striking high-value Hamas targets all over. But the northern part of Gaza is going to be the area of significant military operation and therefore we asked people to vacate the region,” the spokesperson noted.