Gaza City, November 3 (RHC)-- Israel continues deadly air attacks on Gaza early on Friday, even as the number of people killed in the Palestinian enclave rises to at least 9,061.  The Israeli military says it has surrounded Gaza City and is pressing forward, with a spokesperson adding that a ceasefire is “not on the table” despite international pressure.

The Tel Aviv regime has announced that its forces have “encircled” the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and that they have surround Gaza City.

According to media analysts, deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza are an ‘alternative’ to successful ground operations.  Israel’s reasoning for its acceptance of such a large civilian death toll from its bombing of Gaza is a result of its failure to heavily damage Hamas’s military capabilities, despite a month of bombardment, says Middle East researcher Mouin Rabbani.

“When you’re faced with incapable ground forces who are unable to meet the objectives that you have set out for them, then you turn this territory into a killing field, and engaging in these mass killings, not as a prelude to a successful ground operation, but in large part as an alternative to it,” Rabbani says of the Israeli state’s mentality.

“You have this staggering body count … and thereby satisfy your blood lust and desire for revenge, and can present this as an achievement to your constituents and public opinion,” Rabbani added.  “And I think there may be a realization already among the Israeli leadership that they’re not going to achieve their objectives, and that they will then say, well we razed the Gaza Strip to the ground, we killed thousands upon thousands of people, we imposed a medieval siege on them, don’t tell us we didn’t achieve anything.”