The Israeli occupation forces launched a series of violent air strikes targeting separate areas of the Gaza Strip today, and the resistance continued firing rockets at various areas in Israel, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to retreat from the "victory celebration" that he intended to hold.

These raids targeted civilian homes and security and government headquarters in the Strip. The new raids also focused on destroying a number of main streets and intersections, which led to the destruction of large parts of the infrastructure in Gaza City.

Back off the celebration

While the Israeli army carried out what it considered a new phase in its war on Gaza, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attending to celebrate the results of the air strikes launched by Israeli warplanes a week ago on the Strip, but he retreated from that.

Regarding the reasons for Netanyahu's retreat from the celebration that would contribute to marketing his allegations regarding the defeat of the resistance in Gaza and achieving the goals of the war against it, those sources said that his retreat came after he discovered that the results were modest.

Concurrently, the Israeli army said that, after midnight last night, it carried out the third phase of its eighth-day continuous war on the Gaza Strip, which it called Operation "Guard of the Walls."

The occupation army added, in a statement, that the raids targeted what it called the giant Hamas metro project, as about 35 targets were bombed within 20 minutes.

The occupation army stated that 54 fighters fired about 110 rockets at about 15 km from the Gaza tunnels.

Israel believes that the tunnels network is connected to the operating rooms of the al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, from which it runs its military operations, missile systems, and the various military intelligence efforts.

The recent raids targeted a number of neighborhoods, including the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza, government headquarters, and sites of the Palestinian factions.

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adrai said that the army launched raids today at dawn on 9 homes of Hamas leaders around the Gaza Strip, which he said were used as a terrorist structure and that some of them contain weapons stores.

Adraei added that among the targeted houses is the house of the commander of the Beit Hanoun Brigade, and the leaders of the companies in Beit Hanoun in Gaza City and in the Shati refugee camp.

And Israeli media reported, citing an Israeli official, that members of the security cabinet had agreed to continue the military operation in accordance with the army's plans.

She explained that the Security Ministerial Council will be informed and discussed if there are proposals for new military operations or if the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense decide to go to a ceasefire.

Civil Defense: Shelling the Gaza Strip with phosphorous missiles

In a new development, the director of civil defense in northern Gaza told Al-Jazeera that since the morning, the occupation's artillery fired 8 phosphorous shells into the Strip, indicating that it was targeting the locations of civil defense teams to obstruct their work.

And the occupation artillery stationed in southern Ashkelon participated in the artillery bombardment that the Gaza Strip was subjected to this morning.

He said that the occupation is destroying the infrastructure and targeting roads to obstruct the work of the civil defense.

He stressed that the civil defense in the Gaza Strip lacks the minimum requirements for its work, and that Israel is preventing the entry of the necessary mechanisms and aid for it.

On the other hand, after 4 hours of trying, firefighting teams managed to control a large fire caused by the occupation's raids on a sponge factory in Gaza.

Collective punishment

On the other hand, Gaza Mayor Yahya Al-Sarraj said that the Israeli occupation deliberately targeted roads and destroyed infrastructure through continuous raids, stressing that targeting civil services is a collective punishment for the residents of Gaza.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Al-Sarraj confirmed that the Israeli raids had caused massive damage to water stations and sanitation stations, and called on international and regional parties to work to stop the aggression.

The Gaza Electricity Company said that the violent Israeli raids caused severe damage to the electricity transmission line from the generation station towards Gaza City, which resulted in power cuts to large areas in the city.

The raids also led to cuts in the water network and severely damaged the road network in the Strip.

On the other hand, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that 6 Israelis were injured by rockets fired from Gaza on Beersheba and the western Negev, and that they were transferred to the hospital last night.

The Israeli army announced that it had detected 60 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, 10 of them landed inside the strip, and the Israeli army added in a tweet on Twitter that it had intercepted dozens of rockets that were launched from 7 pm until 7 am this morning.

The Israeli army said that the last missile launches from Gaza targeted Beersheba, Ashkelon and the Gaza envelope settlements, causing no casualties.

The Qassam Brigades said that it bombed several Israeli areas last night, including Ashkelon, Beersheba, Ashdod, and the settlements of Netivot and Ofakim, in response to the continued Israeli aggression against civilians.

The Qassam Brigades added that it bombed the Nahal Oz military site with a number of mortar shells, confirming that there were casualties, and bombed a gathering of the occupation forces near the settlement of Nir Amm with mortar shells.

The Al-Quds Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement - also said that they bombed Sderot, Netivot, and the "Hanegev slogan" with massive rocket thrusts in response to the Israeli bombing and terrorizing peaceful civilians, and Israeli media broadcast pictures of the effects of the bombing on the settlement of Netivot.

In turn, the National Resistance Brigades - the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - and the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades - the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees - announced that they bombed the Eshkol area in the northern Gaza Strip with a batch of rockets.

An Israeli raid left 42 people dead on Al-Wehda Street in Gaza (Anatolia)

The outcome of the Israeli bombing

The Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that the number of martyrs since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Strip reached 197, including 58 children and 34 women, while 1,235 were wounded.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health condemned the Israeli raid that left 42 martyrs on Al-Wehda Street in Gaza, describing it as a massacre.

She said that among her victims were two Palestinian doctors, Maeen Al-Aloul and Ayman Abu Al-Auf, and that their targeting exposed the occupier's ugly face, as she put it.

In addition, the number of buildings that were bombed by the occupation forces in the Gaza Strip reached 90 buildings, including 6 residential towers, 3 of which were completely destroyed.

reactions

On the level of external reactions, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that Israel undermines security at the regional and international levels, and called on the Security Council to assume its responsibilities, and called on governments and international institutions to stop their "bias towards the aggressor."

She emphasized that "the crimes of the occupying entity in Palestine must be classified as crimes against humanity and genocide for an entire people."