Its militants killed 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, most of them civilians, and fired thousands of rockets into Israel. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants or those killed by IDF airstrikes or errant Palestinian rockets. At the completion of a humanitarian truce that began on Nov. 24, Israel’s goal is to gain military control over northern Gaza and gradually ferret out Hamas in southern Gaza. The operation in the south “will require a very different mode of operation,” Novik said, because 2 million Palestinian civilians – half of them displaced from northern Gaza – live there. As long as Hamas remains a threat, most of the 200,000 Israelis evacuated from southern Israel cannot go home.

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Persons: ”, Nimrod Novik, Israel, ” Novik, Jake Sullivan, Israel’s, “, ” Jonathan Rynhold, Joe Biden, Biden, Jeff Horwitt, Gilad Shalit, Sara Hirschhorn, “ Israel, ” Hirschhorn Organizations: Hamas, Israel, “, U.S, Israel Defense Forces, CBS, Bar Ilan University, NBC, Democratic, Hart Research Associates, Biden, Israel Democracy Institute, University of Haifa, Israel’s Finance Ministry, Palestinian Liberation Organization Locations: JERUSALEM, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon