The Israeli army says it has "completed the dismantling" of Hamas's command structure in the northern Gaza Strip.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that Palestinian militants are now operating in the area only sporadically and "without commanders".

He said Israel had killed around 8,000 militants in north Gaza. The BBC cannot independently verify this number.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are now focused on dismantling Hamas in south and central Gaza, he said.

Israel has killed more than 22,000 people since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. On Sunday, the territory's health ministry said it had recorded more than 113 deaths over the past 24 hours.

Gaza has been devastated during Israel's war with Hamas, and most of the territory's population of 2.3 million has been displaced.

Israel's offensive started after Hamas gunmen launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking about 240 people hostage.

More than 100 remain following some releases in a six-day pause in fighting in November.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was focused on ensuring the Gaza conflict does not spread and turn into "an endless cycle of violence" after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli territory on Saturday, in what it called a preliminary response to the killing of a top Hamas official in Beirut earlier this week.

Mr Blinken was speaking in Greece at the start of a week-long trip to the region. He has since flown to Jordan, meeting King Abdullah on Sunday before heading to Qatar.

"Washington should put pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza," King Abdullah told Mr Blinken, warning him of the "catastrophic repercussions" of the continuation of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, a palace statement said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Saturday that Israel would continue its campaign to "eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel".

"We have to put everything aside... until the complete victory is achieved," Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.

In other developments, on Sunday the eldest son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, Hamza al-Dahdouh, was killed along with another journalist, Mustafa Thuraya, in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza.

Six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied-West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday. Palestinian media said the raid involved a large deployment of Israeli forces.

In addition to the raid, an Israeli air strike reportedly targeted a gathering in the West Bank, after an Israeli military vehicle struck an explosive device, killing one officer.

Jenin has been a scene of repeated Israeli operations over the past 18 months and they have intensified since the war in Gaza started on 7 October.

On the northern border of Israel, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli territory on Saturday following the killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in a suspected Israeli attack in the Lebanese capital.

A statement by the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement says it hit an air traffic control base in Meron with 62 rockets. The Israeli military said it had identified about 40 launches from Lebanon, and that it had responded.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC NEWS

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