The Israeli offensive moves into busy southern Gaza, raising the death toll despite evacuation orders
Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with several casualties in a strike that razed a multi-storey building on the outskirts of Gaza City.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: Israel shelled targets in the busy southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered the evacuation of more neighborhoods earmarked for attack, raising the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more a day after a ceasefire to protect the citizens of Gaza. collapsed.
At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since fighting resumed Friday morning following a weeklong ceasefire with the territory’s ruling militant group Hamas, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with several casualties in a strike that razed a multi-storey building on the outskirts of Gaza City.
Separately, the ministry announced that the total death toll in Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas had surpassed 15,200 on October 7, a sharp increase from the previous count of more than 13,300 on November 20. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but the report said 70% of those killed were women and children. According to the report, more than 40,000 people have been injured since the war began.
The call from the United States, Israel’s closest ally, to do more to protect civilians came after an air and ground offensive devastated large parts of northern Gaza in the first weeks of the war. About 2 million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, are now crammed into the southern half of the territory.
The Israeli army said on Saturday that it had hit more than 400 Hamas targets in Gaza in the past day, including more than 50 attacks in the town of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in southern Gaza.
At least nine people, including three children, were killed in an attack on a house in the southern city of Deir al-Balah, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken. The hospital also received seven bodies of others killed in nighttime airstrikes, including two children.
In northern Gaza, an airstrike leveled a residential building housing displaced families in the Jabaliya urban refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City. The strike left dozens dead and injured, residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan said.
“There was a loud bang and the building turned into a pile of rubble,” Obeid said. AP video showed smoke rising from a fire as men, some in sandals, made their way over the rubble. The Israeli military confirmed it was active in Jabaliya and said it had found and destroyed Hamas tunnels in the area.
And a powerful attack hit a cluster of multi-storey buildings in Hamad City, a Qatari-funded housing development on the outskirts of Khan Younis. Huge clouds of smoke engulfed the complex. There was no immediate word on casualties,
Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they had fired a barrage of rockets into southern Israel. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said Hamas has launched more than 250 rockets at Israel since the ceasefire ended.
The prospect of further ceasefires in Gaza appeared bleak as Israel recalled its negotiators and Hamas’s deputy leader said further prisoner exchanges would take place after the war ended. Saleh Arouri claimed to broadcaster Al-Jazeera that the remaining hostages are men, “all of whom served in the (Israeli) army.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Hamas has violated the agreement by refusing to return two children and 15 women it is holding.
As fighting has resumed, the Israeli military has published an online map dividing the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered plots and asked residents to familiarize themselves with their location number before issuing evacuation warnings.
On Saturday, the army recorded more than 20 parcel numbers in areas around Gaza City, in the north and east of Khan Younis. Separately, it dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.
A resident of Khan Younis said a neighbor received a call from the Israeli army warning that houses in the area would be hit and everyone had to leave. “We said to them, ‘We have nothing here, why do you want to attack it?’” said the resident, Hikmat al-Qidra. Al-Qidra said the house was destroyed.
The maps and leaflets caused panic and confusion, especially in the busy south. Since they cannot go to northern Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only escape is to move within the 220 square kilometer area.
“There is no place to go,” said Emad Hajar, who fled from the north to Khan Younis with his wife and three children a month ago. “They drove us out of the north, and now they are forcing us to leave the south.”
Amal Radwan, who sheltered at the Jabaliya refugee camp, said she was not aware of such a map, adding that she and many others were unable to leave because of the bombing.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said Israel is making “maximum efforts” to protect civilians and that the military has used leaflets, phone calls and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to leave certain areas.
Regev added that Israel is considering a future security buffer zone that would not allow Gazans direct access on foot to the border fence, adding that Israel has no intention of annexing any territory from Gaza.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential areas. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza.
Also on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received the first convoy of aid trucks through the Rafah crossing since the resumption of fighting. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said a convoy of 100 trucks entered Gaza, including three carrying 150,000 liters (nearly 40,000 gallons) of fuel.
“Current conditions do not allow for a meaningful humanitarian response, and I fear this will spell disaster for the civilian population,” said Pascal Hundt, who heads operations in Gaza for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, US Vice President Kamala Harris said during a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that the United States would “under no circumstances” support the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the United States would allow. West Bank, the siege of Gaza or the redrawing of the borders, according to an American summary.
Harris was expected to work out proposals with regional leaders to “put Palestinian voices at the center” in planning the next steps for Gaza after the conflict, the White House said. President Joe Biden’s administration has emphasized the need for an eventual two-state solution, in which Israel and a Palestinian state coexist.
The October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel. About 240 people were captured.
The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns over 136 hostages the Israeli military says are still being held by Hamas and other militants after 105 were released during the ceasefire. According to her kibbutz, a 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.
During the ceasefire, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released by both sides were women and children.
The end of the ceasefire also sparked new activity along Israel’s northern border. The militant Lebanese Hezbollah group said its fighters attacked at least five Israeli posts along the border, and Israeli forces attacked several areas on the Lebanese side. There were no reports of casualties.
(Mroue reported from Beirut and Anna reported from New York. Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.)