The Israeli army said on Thursday it had killed several Hamas members in tunnels in the Gaza Strip, while also acknowledging 136 hostages remain unaccounted for.

Israel has been waging war on militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip since Islamist terrorists attacked the Jewish state from there on October 7, killing over 1,200 people and taking nearly 200 hostages.

A tunnel system several hundred metres long has been destroyed and Hamas’ combat and command capabilities in the area around the city of Khan Yunis have been significantly reduced, the Israeli army added. The information could not be independently verified.

“(We) completed a targeted activity at a Hamas compound in central Gaza, where they identified several tunnel shafts leading to a network of hundreds of meters of Hamas tunnels,” the army said about another raid in a separate post on social media platform X.

It also said Islamic Jihad’s chief of operational Staff, Mamdouh Lolo, had been hit by an Israeli aircraft in northern Gaza. Islamic Jihad is another militant group working with Hamas in Gaza.

According to Colonel Miki Sharvit, 20 suspected Hamas terrorists were killed in one tunnel alone. The Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted him as saying almost the whole area was full of military infrastructure.

Another Israeli army spokesman said 136 Israeli hostages abducted by Palestinian militants remain in the Gaza Strip. However, it remained unclear how many hostages might be dead.

According to the military’s findings, three civilians who were previously reported missing are now considered kidnapped, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said. The Israeli military recently reported the number of hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip as being at 133.

Israeli media reported that 23 of the 136 abductees were already dead. It was initially unclear whether they were killed on October 7 or only after they had been abducted and what caused their deaths.

In December, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office reported 20 deaths among those abducted.

According to Israeli information, a total of around 240 people were kidnapped on October 7 in the unprecedented attack by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups on border towns in Israel.

A total of 105 hostages were released at the end of November as part of a deal between the Israeli government and Hamas. In exchange, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

After receiving huge global sympathy after the events of October 7, Israel is now under heavy international pressure because of the many civilians killed in the Gaza war and the massive destruction.

According to the Hamas-controlled health authority in the coastal strip, more than 22,400 people have died and more than 57,600 were hurt.

From Thursday next week, Israel will have to answer for the military operation before an international court for the first time. South Africa had sued Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, accusing it of genocide. The initial hearings have been scheduled for January 11 and 12.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel through the Middle East again in the coming days in light of the Gaza war.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced that a longer trip was planned than previously took place with stops in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt. Blinken will set off immediately.

Miller said talks in the coming days would centre on efforts to bring more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, free the remaining hostages from Hamas and improve the protection of Gazan civilians.

Israel must do more to reduce tensions in the West Bank, he added.

The comments came as Israel said it had ended a raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank after more than 40 hours.

Eleven people were arrested in the anti-terror operation, the army said. Hundreds of suspects were questioned and Israeli forces also confiscated weapons and destroyed explosive devices.

Palestinian reports said several people were injured by beatings from Israeli forces during questioning. When asked, the Israeli army said it was investigating the allegations.

Media and eyewitnesses indicated that the army left behind massive destruction in the camp.

The Health Ministry in Ramallah said a 29-year-old man was also killed in confrontations during another Israeli army operation in the town of Tamun in the north of the West Bank.

Israel’s army regularly carries out raids in the West Bank, and these have become more frequent since the start of the Gaza war.

According to military reports, an Israeli soldier was seriously injured by an explosive device during another raid in the north of the bigger Palestinian territory, which is controlled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in contrast to the Hamas-held Gaza Strip.

How much longer Hamas will control Gaza remains to be seen.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant believes that peaceful Palestinians – possibly from the West Bank – will be responsible for the Gaza Strip after the end of the war.

“Hamas will not govern Gaza and Israel will not exercise civilian control over Gaza,” he said.

A third possible front in the war is also brewing in Lebanon.

Thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese, mainly followers of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, took part on Thursday in the funeral procession of slain Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut.

The apartment in which al-Arouri was allegedly killed by Israel on Tuesday was an old office used by the Palestinian Islamist organization, according to Hezbollah sources in Lebanon.

DPA, TOE AGENCIES