Israel bombed the whole territory and forced civilians to leave the core of Gaza’s largest southern city, Khan Younis, overnight after the United States used its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to protect its partner against a call for a ceasefire.
Israel has increased its military assault into the southern part of the Gaza Strip, moving towards Khan Younis, where locals have reported intense clashes, after a truce with Hamas in the two-month-old conflict crumbled on December 1. An increase in violence was reported in the north by both sides.
Israel declared that its assault was moving forward. Tzachi Hanegbi, the national security adviser, stated that Israeli troops had killed at least 7,000 Hamas members, but she did not specify how that figure was arrived at. The military chief Lieutenant-
Over 17,700 people were officially confirmed dead in Gaza on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Thousands more are still missing and are thought to be under the debris. The enclave is administered by Hamas. According to the government, under-18-year-olds accounted for nearly 40% of all fatalities.
Following the fighters from Hamas breaking into Israeli communities on October 7, Israel began its effort to destroy the organisation and take 240 hostages, out of 1,200 dead, according to Israeli estimates.
Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for the release of the approximately 137 hostages who are still being held captive. The Israeli army said early on Sunday that a soldier who had battled on October 7 had passed away from his wounds, and that four more troops had perished in combat in southern Gaza.
The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million citizens have frequently been evicted many times from their homes. Residents and U.N. organisations claim there is almost nowhere safe to go as combat rages across the area, while Israel contests this.
By distributing maps of safe zones, Israeli troops claim to be reducing the number of civilian fatalities. They also accuse Hamas of causing harm to civilians by hiding among them, a claim the militants refute. The campaign, according to Palestinians, has devolved into a bloody, vengeful war against every person living in an area with as many people as London.
On Saturday, the Arabic-speaking spokeswoman for Israel shared a map on X that showed six Khan Younis blocks that needed to be evacuated “urgently”.
As Israeli forces attempted to move farther west, several locals claimed to have heard intense gunfights between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian rebels, as well as tank fire.
“We attempt to put the kids to sleep, but we can’t sleep because we’re afraid the place will be bombed and we’ll have to run with the kids out,” said Zainab Khalil, 57, who was forced to flee with 30 family members and friends close to Jalal Street where evacuation orders were issued. “During the day begins another tragedy, and that is: how to feed the children?”
A top U.N. World Food Programme official stated that a new mechanism might allow more help to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border with Israel, but Israel has not yet consented to this. This is because food and medical supplies are in short supply.
Residents of the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza said that Israeli tank shelling had resumed, and Palestinian health authorities confirmed that an Israeli airstrike in Bureij had killed seven Palestinians.
The injured and dead in Khan Younis arrived at the overcrowded Nasser hospital throughout the night.
A little girl wearing a pink tracksuit lay limp in the ambulance as a medic fled the scene. Nurses rushed in to tend to injured youngsters who writhed and cried on the tile floor. White shrouds enshrouded bodies lined up outside.
A attack on the mosque next door caused significant damage to the Jaffah hospital in Deir al-Balah, forcing its closure, as seen in footage seen by Reuters inside the hospital.
Healthcare professionals in the northern Gaza region, where the most intense fighting is occurring, have charged Israel with attacking medical facilities and ambulances.
An ambulance driver in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood told Reuters that rescue personnel frequently encountered Israeli fire while responding to calls. The worker asked not to be identified out of concern for retaliation.
The manager of al-Awda Hospital, Mohammed Salha, claimed that Israeli soldiers had been using tanks to bombard the facility for days, killing everyone who attempted to enter or exit. According to the health ministry, two hospital employees were murdered by Israeli troops on Saturday inside Kamal Adwan, a facility located in northern Gaza.
The United Nations Security Council’s veto of a resolution supporting a humanitarian ceasefire resolution by Washington was applauded on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared, “Israel will continue our just war to eliminate Hamas.”
Though Washington claims to have urged Israel to take additional precautions to save civilians, it continues to support Israel’s assertion that a truce would help Hamas. The U.S. Congress was not consulted on Saturday when the Biden administration authorised an emergency munitions transfer to Israel.
A member of Hamas’ political bureau, Ezzat El-Reshiq, called the US veto “inhumane”. The veto, according to Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, which Hamas overthrew in 2007 and gained control of Gaza, implicated the US in Israeli war crimes.