Even as a Hamas delegation travels to Egypt for the latest round of talks aimed at renewed ceasefire and hostage release agreement, thousands of people are currently taking refuge in hospitals in Khan Yunis, the second largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. trapped in Israeli attacks on cities.
The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it had “surrounded” the southern city of Khan Yunis after two days of heavy fighting. Israeli officials say the battle was the last major ground attack in the three-month war before the transition to . A “low-intensity” operation aimed at eradicating Palestinian armed groups.
By Wednesday morning, heavy fighting had reached the gates of Khan Yunis' three main hospitals – Al-Aqsa, Nasser and Al-Amal, making it difficult for civilians to evacuate, the U.N. humanitarian agency Ocha said.
Around 800 people were evacuated after a building in the city run by the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency came under tank fire on Wednesday, the agency's director said on social media. 75 people were killed, 75 people were injured, and medical teams were unable to enter the building.
The incident drew criticism from the US State Department. Spokesperson Vedant Patel said: “We deplore today's attack on the UN training center in Khan Yunis. Civilians must be protected, the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected and humanitarian workers must be protected. must be protected so that they can continue to provide the lifesaving humanitarian assistance they need to civilians.”
Following US criticism, Israel denied responsibility for its military and suggested Hamas may have carried out the shelling.
Khan Younis is home to around 88,000 Palestinians and also hosts an estimated 425,000 people displaced by fighting elsewhere in the small coastal region.
About 18,000 people have been evacuated from within the Nasser hospital grounds alone, and 850 patients are believed to have also been evacuated, Ocha said.
“No one can come in or out. [Nasser] “Due to continued shelling,” the authorities added, citing medical personnel who reported that personnel were digging graves on the compound's grounds “due to the expected large number of deaths.”
Nasser Hospital is one of only two hospitals in the southern half of Gaza that can still treat critically ill patients. The siege report was confirmed by Médecins Sans Frontières and the health ministry in Hamas-controlled areas.
Israel has ordered Hamas to evacuate the central Khan Yunis area, which includes three hospitals, as it advances its offensive against Hamas in the wake of an unprecedented attack on Israel that left 1,140 people dead and about 240 taken hostage. ordered the residents.
More than 25,700 people have been killed in air and ground fighting in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said Wednesday.
About 85% of the besieged region's 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes and are now battling cold, hunger and disease in unsanitary, chaotic makeshift camps.
in Video published by ITV NewsThe man the reporter had just interviewed was one of five men carrying white flags and was shot dead by Israeli soldiers even though he had his hands above his head.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it “categorically denies the existence of 'field executions'” and that Hamas, which uses Gaza residents as human shields, is responsible for the operation's devastating civilian death toll. said. The group denies the charges.
During a week-long ceasefire in November, 110 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons, but the United States also focused on facilitating aid to Gaza. Multiple rounds of negotiations led by Egypt and Qatar have since failed.
Egyptian security sources said a Hamas delegation that visited the Egyptian capital on Tuesday night remained in the area on Wednesday and talks continued, but Israeli sources told Hebrew reports that the two sides had agreed on terms. He said that there is still a long way to go.
The deal currently under consideration is believed to include a 30-day cessation of hostilities with the release of Israeli hostages in several installments, but Israeli spokesman Eilon Levy said on Tuesday that Israel would accept no terms and conditions. He also said he did not agree. Hamas remained in power in Gaza.
According to Reuters, Hamas has “categorically” rejected an Israeli offer to end the war if six senior Gaza leaders agree to asylum, with Israel offering a permanent end to the fighting as part of a hostage deal. I reiterated that I had to agree to this.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week reiterated his opposition to an independent Palestinian state, putting him at odds with Israel's most important ally, the United States, which has vowed to restart peace talks aimed at a two-state solution. He was repeatedly criticized for his stance. to the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Joe Biden has spent vast amounts of international and domestic political capital defending Israel's war effort, despite global outcry over the conflict's devastating humanitarian toll.
Support for the war remains high among Israelis, but polls show support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition is lagging. In addition to weekly Saturday night rallies calling for the release of the hostages, calls for elections have increased in recent weeks.
The killing of 21 Israeli soldiers on Tuesday when they were hit by a grenade while digging to demolish a building was the deadliest incident for the Israeli military in the conflict so far, and a sign of public opposition to the war. Opinions are growing.
The longer the violence in Gaza continues, the greater the risk of regional escalation.
The fighting has already involved Iranian proxies in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and has led to retaliatory airstrikes by the United States around the region. A new conflict with the Lebanese group Hezbollah is brewing on Israel's northern border, with clashes that began in October escalating in recent weeks and is widely seen as the most dangerous flashpoint.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had carried out its second attack in recent weeks on Israel's air traffic control base on the strategically important Mount Meron in response to Israeli “assassinations” and attacks on civilians.
