Tel Aviv, 2 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The Israeli army said that it "eliminated" more than 130 terrorists in the Gaza Strip on Thursday as military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists that the army has now surrounded Gaza City in its continuing ground offensive.

It was initially unclear whether the 130 were in fact killed.

Gaza City is the largest city in the sealed-off coastal strip.

The military said it is waging "fierce battles" against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Forces also destroyed Hamas military installations and infrastructure as well as many weapons.

Aircraft supported the offensive and attacked several military command and control centres of high-ranking Hamas members. The "terrorist infrastructure" had been targeted in civilian areas, the army added.

A naval missile boat also hit Hamas buildings and observation posts rigged with explosives, the army said. Israel's air force and navy continued to attack targets of the Islamist organization's navy.

Earlier, the Israeli army announced that it had attacked more than 12,000 targets in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war.

On the 27th day of the Israel-Hamas war, 400 dual passport holders left Gaza for Egypt, the Egyptian Red Crescent said.

On Wednesday, more than 360 left while dozens of other injured Gazans were taken to Egyptian hospitals.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said some 7,000 foreign passport holders from 60 countries are waiting to exit Gaza, where the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate.

The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry reported 16 hospitals out of service and more than 9,000 dead in Gaza since the hostilities started on October 7, when Hamas fighters killed more than 1,400 people in Israel.

Israel insists it only strikes Hamas targets but notes that Hamas often operates out of hospitals, schools and other civilian institutions.

Still, the high number of civilian casualties in the densely populated coastal area as well as the catastrophic situation for its inhabitants have triggered international criticism of Israel's actions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for security guarantees for medical aid deliveries to clinics in Gaza.

"I am sick of hearing all of these reassurances that don't actually exist on the ground for the people we work with," the WHO's top crisis manager, Mike Ryan, said on Thursday in Geneva.

If hospitals in Gaza should be evacuated at Israel's request, Israel, as the occupying power, would have to facilitate the safe transport of patients to alternative treatment centres in coordination with the responsible health authority, Ryan emphasized.

On the military front, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said there are now known to be at least 242 hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, according to an IDF update on Thursday. The army said most Israeli hostages are believed to be alive.

Militant Palestinians in Gaza again fired rockets at southern Israel on Thursday afternoon.

Israel said its soldiers are carrying out defensive activities along the northern border, including observation efforts, patrols, and other proactive operations to counter the treat from Lebanon, especially from the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement.

Hezbollah announced late Thursday that its fighters have carried out 19 attacks on Israeli posts near the Lebanese border and that they had scored direct hits.

In retaliation, Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of several villages near the border with Lebanon.

Since the Gaza war broke out, there have been repeated violent incidents on the border between Israel and Lebanon with deaths on both sides.

Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is expected to break his silence on the war with a speech on Friday afternoon. Concerns are growing that the conflict could spread to Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced on Thursday that three people have been killed in Israeli military operations in the West Bank.

On the diplomatic front, Bahrain, which established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020, said in a statement that it had recalled its ambassador to Israel and all economic relations with Israel would be suspended as it reiterated its "firm support for the Palestinian cause."

It also called for the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international resolutions.

However, Israel denied reports that its ambassador to Bahrain and the Bahraini ambassador to Israel had been recalled, adding that relations between the two countries are stable.

Photo: EPA