Fierce fighting in Gaza as war hits 100 days

Israeli tanks and aircraft hit targets in southern and central Gaza on Sunday and there were fierce gun battles in some areas as the war reached 100 days since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Communications and internet services were down for the third day running, complicating the work of emergency and ambulance crews trying to help people in areas hit by fighting.
Over the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said 125 people had been killed and 265 wounded, bringing the total number confirmed to have been killed since the start of the war to almost 24,000, with more than 60,000 wounded.
Fighting was concentrated in the southern city of Khan Younis, where Hamas said its fighters hit an Israeli tank, as well as in Al-Bureij and Al Maghazi in central Gaza, where the Israeli military said several militants were killed.
Speaking through video link to a conference in Istanbul, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh praised the Oct. 7 attack by the group's fighter.
"We are not seekers of wars. We are seekers of freedom," he said, saying the attack was, in part, a response to the years-long Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has controlled since 2007.
The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war, focused on the southern end of the territory, where almost 2 million people are now sheltering in tents and other temporary accommodation, after the initial phase centred on clearing the northern end including Gaza City.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brushed off calls for a ceasefire, saying Israel will keep going until it achieves complete victory over Hamas.
In Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, Nana, a 17-year-old high school student displaced from northern Gaza, said 100 days of war "turned our life upside down."
"We demand the occupation not only to end the war but also compensation for the psychological damage of displacement and the hardships endured," she said.