2023-12-06 08:28:02
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces were fighting Hamas militants across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday following expanding their ground offensive to the territory’s second-largest city, further reducing the area where the militants Palestinians can seek shelter and paralyzed the distribution of vital aid to most of the territory.
The attack in the south threatens more mass displacement in the besieged coastal enclave, where according to the United Nations some 1.87 million people – around 80% of the population – have already fled their homes.
Much of the north of the territory, including large areas of Gaza City, has been completely devastated, and Palestinians fear that the rest of the Gaza Strip might suffer a similar fate as Israel attempts to dismantle Hamas, which is deeply entrenched in the territory it governs. for 16 years.
Israel says it no longer accepts Hamas’ military presence in Gaza following Oct. 7 that sparked the war, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain security control over the territory indefinitely, something that the United States and much of the international community oppose.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday that its forces were “in the heart” of Khan Younis, following what it described as “the most intense day” of fighting since the ground offensive began more than five weeks ago, with heavy fighting also in the North.
For the past three days, aid distribution – mainly supplies of flour and water – has only been possible in and around the border town of Rafah, on the southern edge of the Strip, due to fighting and roadblocks in Israeli forces, according to the United Nations humanitarian aid office.
Fuel and medical supplies are at “critically low levels” at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, north of Khan Yunis, according to Doctors Without Borders.
“Without electricity, respirators would stop working, blood donations would have to stop, sterilization of surgical instruments would be impossible,” said Marie-Aure Perreaut Revial, the aid group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza. The hospital is also running out without surgical materials and external restraints to hold broken bones together.
The Gaza Strip has been without electricity since October and Israel has severely limited fuel imports, forcing several hospitals to close because they might not keep emergency generators running.
The war has killed more than 16,200 people in Gaza — 70% of them women and children — and injured more than 42,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which released new figures Tuesday night. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants killed, but its data generally coincides with a figure published by the Israeli army this week.
The ministry says hundreds of people have been killed or injured since the week-long truce ended on Friday, and many remain trapped under rubble.
The military accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields when the militants operate in residential areas. But Israel has not provided detailed information regarding individual attacks, some of which have destroyed entire blocks.
Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said militants keep weapons in homes and other buildings so plainclothes fighters can use them to shoot at troops.
“Attacking them requires significant use of fire, both to attack the enemy and, of course, to protect our forces,” he said Tuesday.
Israel says it must oust Hamas from power to avoid a repeat of the attack that sparked the war, in which Hamas and other militants killed regarding 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took regarding 240 men, women and children as hostages, following surpassing the prestigious Israeli defenses.
More than 100 hostages were freed during last week’s ceasefire, along with 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Relatives of the hostages had a tense meeting with Netanyahu and the war cabinet on Tuesday, in which some shouted at government members and accused them of not having a plan to bring the other captives home.
Five of the freed hostages gave details of their experience during the meeting. One spoke of Hamas fighters “touching” captive women and another said the militants had shaved a man’s body hair to humiliate him, according to a group representing the families.
For his part, a doctor who treated some of the 110 freed hostages told The Associated Press that at least 10 women and men had suffered sexual abuse or assault, without giving further details, which added to the numerous accusations of rape and other atrocities committed during the October 7 Hamas attack.
Hamas still has the capacity to fight in the north, where Israel swept in with overwhelming force weeks ago, suggesting that eradicating the group without causing more casualties and massive displacement — as the United States, Israel’s main ally, has requested — might be difficult.
The army says 88 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza offensive. A military commander said this week that at least 15,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 5,000 militants, but did not explain how the army had reached those numbers.
Even following weeks of bombing, Hamas’s top leader in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar—whose whereregardings are unknown—was able to lead complex ceasefire negotiations and orchestrate the release of dozens of hostages last week. Palestinian militants have also maintained their rocket fire toward Israel.
The war has been an unprecedented catastrophe for Palestinian civilians, dwarfing the four previous wars between Israel and Hamas, and their suffering is expected to increase as the offensive progresses.
Following the massive evacuation of northern Gaza ordered by Israel at the start of the war, the majority of the Gazan population found themselves crammed into the 230 square kilometers (90 square miles) of the center and south of the territory.
Since pushing into the south, the Israeli military has ordered people to leave nearly two dozen neighborhoods in and around Khan Younis, further reducing by more than a quarter the areas where civilians can seek refuge. .
It was unclear how many people had followed 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.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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