Israel conducts new strikes in Gaza, families seek shelter after evacuation order
Many Palestinians were seeking shelter on Wednesday after fleeing their homes in southern Gaza and complained of water shortages as Israel pressed on with its military offensive in the densely populated enclave.
Israeli forces carried out new military strikes in the southern city of Rafah amid fierce fighting with Palestinian militants overnight, residents said. At least 12 people were killed in new strikes in central and northern Gaza, health officials said.
Israel’s leaders have said they are winding down the phase of intense fighting against Hamas, the Islamist group that has governed Gaza since 2007, and will soon shift to more targeted operations in the nearly nine-month-old war in Gaza.
But fighting continued overnight in two locations at the centre of Rafah, where tanks have seized several districts and advanced further West and north of the city in recent days, and concerns about the plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced people are growing.
The Israeli military said its forces had continued targeted, intelligence-based operations in Rafah, dismantled several military sites and killed Palestinian militants.
Hamas’ armed wing said it had shelled two Israeli tanks in a neighbourhood West of Rafah and fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces attacking Shejaia, an eastern suburb of Gaza City in the centre of the enclave.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an allied group, said it had shelled an Israeli military bulldozer in Rafah, and fired on Israeli army positions east of Shejaia.
In Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, two Israeli air strikes killed five Palestinians, health officials said. In Shejaia an air strike killed four and wounded 17, medics said.
Another air strike hit a car in the southern city of Deir Al-Balah, killing three people, health officials said.
Deir Al-Balah is crowded with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forced to flee homes elsewhere in Gaza, and residents complain of acute shortages of drinking water and inflated prices for basic foodstuff.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas burst into southern Israel on October 7th, killed about 1,200 people and seized around 250 civilians and soldiers who they took back in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
[ Prisoners being tortured in Israel, says Palestinian hospital director ]
The offensive launched by Israel in retaliation to try to eliminate Hamas has killed nearly 38,000 people, said the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins. Internationally mediated talks have failed so far to secure a lasting ceasefire.
While the United States has maintained its strong support for Israel throughout the war, president Joe Biden has on some occasions expressed concerns about Israel’s conduct.
A White House official said on Tuesday Mr Biden was expected to meet Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in late July when the Israeli leader visits to address the US Congress.
The Gaza health ministry said an Israeli air strike on a house in the southern city of Khan Younis had killed Hassan Hamdan, head of the burns and plastic surgery department at Nasser Medical Complex, along with all his family members.
Israel’s army did not comment on the ministry’s statement and Reuters was unable immediately to verify it.
The last functioning hospital in the area, the Gaza European Hospital, which had housed displaced families as well as patients, was also evacuated.
“We were told to evacuate the European Hospital. We came to Nasser Hospital, but it was full,” said Ali Abu Ismehan, who was wounded by Israeli fire and had his legs and pelvis broken.
“I am staying in the street, waiting for them to find me a place inside (the hospital),” he said.
An Israeli defence official said on Tuesday that although evacuation orders had been issued for the area in which the European Gaza Hospital is located, staff and patients were told they could stay.
[ Thousands flee their homes as Israeli forces bomb southern Gaza ]
World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “devastating” that the European Gaza Hospital was out of service when access to healthcare was urgently needed.
He wrote on X that the Nasser Medical Complex was now at full capacity and “has a shortage of medical supplies and drugs for surgery”.
Meanwhile, dozen former US government officials who quit over US support for Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday accused US president Joe Biden’s administration of “undeniable complicity” in the killing of Palestinians in the enclave.
In a joint statement, the 12 former government officials said the administration was violating US laws through its support for Israel and finding loopholes to continue shipping weapons to its ally.
The White House and the US State Department had no immediate comment on the statement.
There has been mounting international criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and of US military and diplomatic support for its ally in a war.
The resignations of the 12 US officials reflects some dissent within the government over its support for Israel. Washington has pushed for the protection of civilians in Gaza and has called on Israel to improve aid access.
Among the people who signed the joint statement were former members of the state department, education department, interior department, White House and the military.
“America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza,” the former officials said in the statement.
They urged the US government to use its “necessary and available leverage” to bring the war to an end and to ensure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel. They also demanded that the US government support Palestinian self-determination and fund an “immediate expansion of humanitarian assistance” in Gaza.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024
