Tel Aviv/Ramallah/Gaza, 30 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Israel's army said on Friday it has ended its major month-long operation in the southern Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, adding that it killed over 250 militants during the mission.

Tunnel routes used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas with a total length of more than 6 kilometres were destroyed during the operation and the bodies of six hostages recovered, the army said.

Residents of some neighbourhoods in southern Gaza, who had previously been asked to flee, were allowed to return, an army spokesman said.

The neighbourhoods are now once again part of an area designated as a humanitarian safe zone. Some of those who have returned to Khan Younis have begun to search for missing relatives, the military said.

According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 40,000 people have been killed and more than 98,000 injured in Gaza during 10 months of war.

The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, with more than 1,200 dead, carried out by Hamas militants and other Palestinian extremist groups on October 7.

Israeli army says Hamas leader, others killed in West Bank

The Israeli army said on Friday that during a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, it killed the Hamas leader responsible for the city of Jenin.

"Wassem Hazem, the head of Hamas in Jenin, was eliminated during a counterterrorism operation in the northern Samaria area. He was identified alongside a terrorist cell in a vehicle in the area," the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet and the Israeli police posted on the platform X.

"Hazem was involved in carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks, and continuously advanced terrorist activities in the Judea and Samaria area," the post said, referring to how Israel calls the West Bank. The vehicle also contained two other Hamas members, it said.

The forces reportedly killed them during an attack with an aircraft as they tried to flee the vehicle. Weapons and explosives were found in the car, it said.

The Ministry of Health in Ramallah confirmed three deaths in city.

Meanwhile, a two-day operation in Tulkarem, a stronghold of Palestinian militants in the northern West Bank like Jenin, has ended, according to Israeli and Palestinian reports.

Palestinian media reported that several individuals were detained during an Israeli army raid in Nablus.

The situation in the West Bank has significantly deteriorated since the onset of the Gaza war, with 643 Palestinians killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations, or their own attacks, according to the health authority in Ramallah.

Israel's security Cabinet aims to keep Gaza-Egypt border control

Israel's security Cabinet plans to maintain control over the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Israeli media outlets reported on Friday.

By doing so, Israel is refusing to concede on a key point in the ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza conflict.

A large majority voted in favour of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position during a meeting on Thursday evening, according to the reports.

Only Defence Minister Yoav Gallant voted against it, while the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir abstained.

Israel said that numerous tunnels operated by Hamas run under the approximately 14-kilometre-long Philadelphi Corridor.

Netanyahu insists on maintaining control to prevent weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Egypt denies the existence of these underground smuggling routes.

Hamas accuses Israel of obstructing the ceasefire negotiations by refusing to withdraw from the area.

The indirect negotiations, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, have been stalled for months.

WHO prepares for mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza

Preparations for the Sunday start of a mass polio vaccination campaign for children in the Gaza Strip are in full swing, after all sides agreed to a limited ceasefire.

The warring parties have made a "preliminary commitment to what we call area-specific humanitarian pauses," the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

A total of 640,000 children under the age of 10 are to be immunized. Full vaccination requires two doses four weeks apart.

Almost 400 vaccination centres have been set up. In addition, almost 300 mobile teams are on the road, and some 2,200 volunteers have been trained to administer the vaccine.

The WHO aims to vaccinate more than 90% of children with the campaign. This coverage is necessary to prevent the virus from spreading.

Polio is a contagious infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis and death, especially in young children. There is currently no cure.

MIA file photo