More die under Israeli onslaught
ISRAEL’S military killed dozens of people in new attacks in Gaza, Palestinian medics said yesterday, and its forces maintained a blockade of two hospitals where they say Hamas militants are hiding.
As Israel pressed on with its offensive, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there was a growing international consensus around telling Israel a ceasefire was needed and that an assault on Rafah would cause a humanitarian disaster. Rafah, the last refuge for over a million Palestinians on the Gaza Strip’s southern border with Egypt, was among cities that came under fire in the latest attacks.
Palestinian medics said 30 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours in Rafah, whose population has been swollen by displaced Palestinians escaping fighting elsewhere in Gaza after more than five months of war.
“Every bombing that takes place in Rafah, we fear the tanks will come in. The past 24 hours were one of the worst days since we moved into Rafah,” said Abu Khaled, a father of seven, who declined to give his full name for fear of reprisals.
“In Rafah, we live in fear, we are hungry, we are homeless and our future is unknown. With no ceasefire in sight, we might end up dead or displaced somewhere else, maybe north and maybe south (to Egypt),” he told Reuters via a chat app.
Dozens of Palestinians took part in rallies and attended funerals early
yesterday after an Israeli airstrike killed 18 Palestinians in one house in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.
Israeli forces were also besieging Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis, Palestinian witnesses said, a week after entering Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the main hospital in the Strip.
Israel says hospitals in Gaza are used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas as bases, and has released videos and pictures supporting the assertion. Hamas and medical staff deny this, and did not say whether any fighters were among those killed in the latest attacks.
The Israeli military said in a statement yesterday that its forces were “continuing to conduct precise operational activity in the Shifa Hospital area while preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment”. It said its forces had detained 500 people affiliated with Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad and had located weapons in the area. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza
said hundreds of patients and medical staff had been detained at Al Shifa.
Israel’s military also said its forces continued “precisely targeted raids on terror infrastructure in Al-Amal” and that “20 terrorists were eliminated in the Al Amal area over the past day in close-quarters combat and aerial strikes”. Reuters has been unable to access Gaza’s contested hospital areas and verify accounts by either side.
Over 32 000 Palestinians have been killed and 74 500 injured in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say. Israel began its military campaign after Hamas-led Islamist militants attacked its south on October 7, killing 1 200 people and abducting 253, according to Israeli tallies.
US-backed mediation by Qatar and Egypt has so far failed to secure agreement between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire, a hostage-prisoner swap and the unfettered provision of aid to Gaza civilians, with each side sticking to core demands.
Hamas wants any deal to bring an end to the war and entail the withdrawal of Israeli forces.