Israeli forces battled Palestinian terrorists on Wednesday near the main hospital in Gaza’s second-largest city Khan Younis, where medics said hundreds of patients and thousands of displaced people could not go because of the fighting.
Israel has ordered residents to leave the downtown area of Khan Younis that includes Nasser and two small hospitals as it continues its 3-month offensive against Hamas.
The United Nations humanitarian office said the area is home to 88,000 Palestinians and hosts another 425,000 displaced by fighting elsewhere.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders said its staff were trapped inside Nasser Hospital with about 850 patients and thousands of people were displaced because the surrounding roads were inaccessible or too dangerous.
Nasser Hospital is one of two hospitals in southern Gaza that can still treat critically ill patients, the group said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry also said the hospital had been isolated.
Israel’s military said its troops were fighting militants inside Khan Younis after ending their siege of the town a day earlier.
It said the aircraft struck targets as part of an operation there and also targeted suspected militants in central and northern Gaza.
A woman holds an injured girl at a hospital in Rafah following an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 23, 2024. Xinhua/Shutterstock An injured man is brought into a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Jan. 23, 2024. Xinhua /Shutterstock
Thousands of people fled south from Khan Younis on Tuesday towards the town of Rafah.
The UN says about 1.5 million people – about two-thirds of Gaza’s population – are crammed into shelters and tents in and around Rafah, which lies on the border with Egypt.
Even there, Palestinians find little security, with Israel regularly carrying out attacks in and around the city.
Palestinian witnesses said that in recent days Israeli soldiers and tanks have pushed into the Muwasi section, a sandy area along the coast that Israel has declared a safe zone, where tens of thousands of people live in tents without basic services.
In all, about 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, according to the UN refugee agency.
Most have fled from the north, where Israeli air and ground attacks have reduced entire neighborhoods to wasteland, raising questions about whether residents will be able to return.
People flee Khan Younis as smoke from the ground and Israeli airstrikes rise in the background on January 22, 2024. AP
At least 210 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours, bringing the war’s death toll to 25,700, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The count did not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it said most of the dead were women and children.
A further 386 Palestinians have been injured over the past day, bringing the total to 63,740 and adding further pressure to already beleaguered hospitals, the ministry said.
UN officials have expressed concern that more people could die from disease, with at least a quarter of the population facing starvation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “total victory” against Hamas, which began the war with its cross-border attack on October 7, killing about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapping 250 more.
Palestinians flee Khan Younis after Israeli ground and air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Monday, January 22, 2024. AP
ISRAEL’S PART ON THE PROBLEM OF WAR
Netanyahu said Israel was also committed to returning more than 100 hostages still in captivity after most others were released in exchange for freeing Palestinian prisoners during the November ceasefire.
But many Israelis, including at least one member of Netanyahu’s War Cabinet, say that is impossible without reaching another agreement with Hamas.
The militant group said it would not release any more hostages until Israel ends its offensive.
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The families of the hostages are also calling for a deal, and have staged increasingly aggressive protests against Israeli leaders, even disrupting a parliamentary committee meeting Monday.
Egypt and Qatar are working on a new agreement, but officials say the gap between the two sides remains wide.
In Israel, bitter political divisions set aside after the October 7 attacks have begun to resurface, with Netanyahu facing widespread anger and protests over the failure to prevent the attacks and the fate of the hostages.
A donkey-drawn hearse is pulled through the European Hospital in Khan Younis January 23, 2024. REUTERS
A BUFFER ZONE IN GAZA?
Hamas is still attacking Israeli forces, even in some of the most devastated areas, and firing rockets into Israel.
Monday’s attack near the border killed 21 Israeli soldiers, the largest loss of military life in an attack since Oct. 7.
Israeli media said the army was working to create an unofficial buffer zone about half a mile wide along the border to prevent militants from attacking Israeli communities near Gaza.
The military said the operation was aimed at providing security for the community but declined to say whether it planned to establish a formal buffer zone.
The United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support for the offensive, has said it opposes any Israeli attempt to shrink Gaza.
People attend the funeral of one of the 21 Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip, on January 23, 2024. ZUMAPRESS.com Men pray next to the bodies of those killed in an Israeli attack in Khan Younis inside al-Najjar hospital on January 24, 2024. Reuters
But President Joe Biden’s administration has also urged Israel to scale back military operations and facilitate the delivery of more aid — with limited success.
And Netanyahu has flatly rejected calls from the US and much of the international community for a post-war plan that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
