PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Heavy urban battles raged Monday in the bloodiest-ever war in Gaza, with more than 18,200 Palestinians and 104 Israeli soldiers reported dead amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attacks that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw dozens of hostages dragged back to Gaza.
It has warned the remaining 137 hostages won’t survive unless Israel meets its demands and frees more Palestinian prisoners.
Brutal fighting continued in Gaza, with Islamic Jihad militants saying they blew up a house in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis where Israeli soldiers were searching for a tunnel shaft.
Rockets fired from Gaza hit Holon on the edge of Tel Aviv, injuring a civilian and leaving a crater in a residential street.
