Desperate Palestinians fleeing Israel’s ever-expanding ground offensive are crowding into a shrinking enclave in the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third month Friday.
The United Nations has warned that its relief operation is “in shambles” because nowhere in the besieged area is safe.
The Israeli military’s brutal assault on Gaza, a small, densely populated territory, has led to widespread civilian casualties and mass displacement, sparking international concern.
Israel’s military said on Friday that in the past day troops had struck about 450 targets in the Gaza Strip by air, sea and land, signaling the continued intensity of Israel’s campaign.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used rare powers to warn the Security Council of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe”, and Arab and Muslim countries have called for a vote on Friday on a draft Council resolution demanding a humanitarian freeze. immediate- fire.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, appears set to block any UN effort to stop the fighting sparked by a deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. However, US concerns about the destruction are growing.
Palestinians evacuate a woman injured following an Israeli airstrike in the Khan Younis refugee camp, south of the Gaza Strip on Dec. 7, 2023. AP
US officials told Israel before the expansion of its ground offensive into southern Gaza several days ago that it must limit civilian casualties and displacement, saying too many Palestinians were killed as it obliterated large parts of Gaza City and the north.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a call with Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer that the toll was still too high, a senior State Department official said.
Blinken told Dermer that Israel must also do more to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza.
An Israeli army self-propelled artillery howitzer fires from a position near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on December 7, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic discussions.
Israel insists it must destroy the military capabilities of Hamas, which rules Gaza, and remove it from power following the group’s October 7 attack.
In the first phase of the war, Israel’s devastating air and ground campaign was concentrated in the northern half of Gaza, as hundreds of thousands or residents fled south.
Aerial photo shows Palestinian refugees fleeing Khan Yunis set up camp near the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt on Dec. 7, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
Fierce fighting has continued in the north in recent days, while troops there have arrested hundreds of Palestinian men.
In photos and videos published Thursday, dozens of men are seen sitting in rows on a street in northern Gaza, stripped to their underwear with their heads down as they are guarded by Israeli soldiers.
The image is the first to show such detention in war.
Palestinians assess the destruction of their neighborhood in the Maghazi Palestinian refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip on Dec. 7, 2023. ZUMAPRESS.com
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the army has detained and interrogated hundreds of people in Gaza suspected of having militant links.
UN monitors said the army reportedly detained men and boys from the age of 15 at a school shelter in the northern city of Beit Lahiya.
Over the past week, Israeli forces have expanded their ground offensive into southern Gaza, with a focus on Khan Younis, the territory’s second largest city.
Smoke is seen billowing during Israeli bombardment of Gaza, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group on Dec. 7, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
With the entire Gaza Strip under military attack, tens of thousands of people displaced by the fighting have filled the border town of Rafah, far south of the Gaza Strip, and Muwasi, a nearby barren coastal area that Israel has declared a safe zone.
With shelters far beyond capacity, many people set up tents along the roadside from Rafah to Muwasi.
Israel War Update
Get the most important developments in the region, globally and locally.
“Humanitarian actors … report extreme overcrowding and a lack of basic resources in Rafah,” the United Nations’ humanitarian affairs division said.
The ability of UN aid agencies to receive vital aid supplies has been “significantly affected” over the past few days due to trucks and staff stranded by fighting, and telecommunications blackouts, he said.
“We don’t have a humanitarian operation in southern Gaza that can be called by that name anymore,” the UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned on Thursday. The speed of the Israeli military offensive “does not make it a safe place for civilians in southern Gaza, which has been the basis of humanitarian plans to protect civilians and thus provide them with assistance. But without a place of safety, the plan falls apart.”
With the entire Gaza Strip under military attack, Israel designated Muwasi on the Mediterranean Coast as a safe zone for those seeking safety from the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants.
But the UN and aid agencies say it is a poorly planned solution that offers no guarantee of security in areas where civilians have faced airstrikes even in other areas where Israeli forces have ordered them to evacuate.
The Israeli campaign has killed more than 17,100 people in Gaza – 70% of them women and children – and injured more than 46,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which says many more are trapped under the rubble.
The Ministry does not differentiate between the deaths of civilians and combatants.
Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and took more than 240 hostages.
An estimated 138 hostages remain in Gaza, mostly soldiers and civilians, after 105 were released during a ceasefire in late November.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
