An Israeli military tank rolls near the border with the Gaza Strip on December 5, 2023, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
Manham Kahana | AFP | Getty Images
Israeli forces battled Hamas militants in Gaza on Wednesday after ramping up their ground offensive into its second-largest city, further encroaching on an area where Palestinians can find safety and blocking the delivery of vital aid to much of the region.
The attack in the south threatens to cause more mass displacement in the besieged coastal enclave, where the United Nations says some 1.87 million people – more than 80 percent of the population – have already fled their homes.
Much of the north, including large parts of Gaza City, has been completely destroyed, and Palestinians fear that the rest of Gaza could suffer the same fate as Israel tries to eliminate Hamas. Which is deeply rooted in the region, which he has ruled for 16 years.
Israel says it can no longer accept Hamas’ military presence in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain open security control over the territory. It is opposed by the United States. Much of the international community.
Still a lot of fighting
The Israeli army said on Tuesday that its troops were “in the heart” of the southern city of Khan Yunis, in what it described as the “toughest day” of fighting since the ground operation began five weeks ago. . North too.
For the past three days, aid distribution – mainly only supplies of flour and water – has been possible only in and around the border town of Rafah on the southern edge of Gaza, due to fighting and road closures by Israeli forces. , United Nations Humanitarian Aid Office. said
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Aid group Doctors Without Borders said fuel and medical supplies had reached “critically low levels” at al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, north of Khan Yunis. 200 wounded people have been brought in every day since December 1, when the week-long war ended, it said.
“Without electricity, ventilators would stop working, blood donations would have to stop, it would be impossible to sterilize surgical instruments,” said Marie-Uri Perriot Reville, the aid group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza. He said the hospital is also running extremely low on surgical supplies and external fixators to fix broken bones.
Gaza has been without electricity since early October, and Israel has severely restricted fuel imports, forcing many hospitals to close because they cannot run emergency generators.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 16,200 people — 70 percent of them women and children — and injured more than 42,000, according to the territory’s health ministry, which released new figures late Tuesday. . The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combat deaths, but its totals tally with figures released by the Israeli military this week.
The ministry says hundreds more have been killed since the ceasefire ended on Friday, and many are still buried under the rubble.
The army accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields when militants move into residential areas. But Israel has not given detailed accounts of the individual attacks, some of which have leveled entire city blocks.
Military Chief of Staff Herzey Halevi said that militants keep weapons in houses and other buildings so that militants in civilian clothes can use them to shoot at soldiers.
“To kill them requires heavy use of fire, both to target the enemy but, of course, to protect our forces,” he said on Tuesday.
Anger among the families of the hostages
Israel says it must remove Hamas from power to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas and other militants killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and Israel’s formidable defenses. After being buried, 240 men, women and children were taken prisoner.
More than 100 hostages were freed during last week’s ceasefire, including 240 Palestinians held by Israel.
The families of the hostages held a tense meeting with Netanyahu and the war cabinet on Tuesday in which some of them lashed out at cabinet members, accusing them of having no plans to bring back the rest.
Five of the freed hostages shared details of their experiences during the meeting. One spoke of Hamas fighters “touching a female hostage” and another said fighters cut off the body hair of a male hostage to humiliate him, according to a group representing the families.
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A doctor who treated some of the 110 freed hostages told The Associated Press separately that at least 10 women and men were sexually assaulted or raped, without providing further details, in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Widespread allegations of rape and other atrocities were made during the course. .
No end in sight
Hamas’s continued ability to fight in the north, where Israel moved in with overwhelming force weeks ago, suggests that the group may end without more general casualties and displacement – as Israel’s top ally, the United States, has requested. – can be proven.
The army says that 88 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza attack. A military official said this week that at least 15,000 Palestinians had been killed, including 5,000 fighters, but did not explain how the military arrived at those figures.
Even after weeks of bombardment, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar – whose whereabouts are unknown – was able to manage complex ceasefire negotiations and arrange the release of several hostages last week. Palestinian militants have also fired their rockets at Israel.
The war has been an unprecedented disaster for Palestinian civilians, having outlasted all four previous wars between Israel and Hamas, and their suffering has worsened as the aggression grinds on.
After Israel’s full-scale evacuation of northern Gaza at the start of the war, most of the Gazan population was forced into the 230 square kilometers (90 sq mi) of central and southern Gaza.
Since moving south, the Israeli army has ordered the evacuation of nearly two dozen neighborhoods in and around Khan Yunis, further reducing the area where civilians can take refuge by more than a quarter.
It is unclear how many people followed the evacuation orders, as many Palestinians say they do not feel safe anywhere in Gaza and fear that if they leave their homes, they will not be allowed to return. will go