By Arafat Barbakh and Nidal al-Mughrabi
Updated December 4, 2023 — 6.40amfirst published at 5.21am
Khan Younis: The Israeli military says it had expanded its ground operations to every part of Gaza and ordered more evacuations in the crowded south, followed by heavy bombardment, as it vowed that operations there against Hamas would be “no less strength” than its earlier offensive in the north.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip said they were running out of places to go in the sealed-off territory that borders Israel and Egypt. Many of its 2.3 million people are crammed into the south after Israel ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the war, which was sparked by the October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants that killed about 1200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel.
The United Nations estimates that 1.8 million Gazans have been displaced. Juliette Toma, the director of communications at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said nearly 958,000 of them were in 99 UN facilities in the south.
Heavy bombardment was reported around Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis in the south and the nearby city of Rafah.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll there since October 7 has surpassed 15,500. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but said 70 per cent of the dead were women and children. It said more than 41,000 people had been wounded.
A Health Ministry spokesman asserted that hundreds of people had been killed or wounded since the ceasefire ended. “The majority of victims are still under the rubble,” Ashraf al-Qidra said.
Meanwhile, fears of a wider conflict intensified. A US warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed attacks on two ships they described as being linked to Israel but did not acknowledge targeting a US Navy vessel.
Israel’s military widened evacuation orders in and around Khan Younis, telling residents of at least five more areas to leave. Residents said the military dropped leaflets ordering them to move south to the border city of Rafah or to a coastal area in the south-west. “Khan Younis city is a dangerous combat zone,” the leaflets read.
But Halima Abdel-Rahman, a widow and mother of four, said she won’t heed such orders any more. She fled her home in October to an area outside Khan Younis, where she stays with relatives.
“The occupation tells you to go to this area, then they bomb it,” she said by phone. “The reality is that no place is safe in Gaza. They kill people in the north. They kill people in the south.”
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has urged Israel to avoid significant new mass displacement and do more to protect civilians. US Vice President Kamala Harris also told Egypt’s president that “under no circumstances” would the US permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders.
On the ground in Gaza, there was frustration and mourning. Outside a Gaza City hospital, a dust-covered boy named Saaed Khalid Shehta dropped to his knees beside the bloodied body of his little brother Mohammad, one of several bodies laid out after people said their street was hit by airstrikes. He kissed him.
“You bury me with him!” the boy cried. A health worker at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital said more than 15 children were killed.
Israel’s military said its fighter jets and helicopters struck targets in the Gaza Strip including “tunnel shafts, command centres and weapons storage facilities,” while a drone killed five Hamas fighters. Military officials acknowledged “extensive aerial attacks in the Khan Younis area”.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said Israel was making “maximum effort” to protect civilians. In addition to the leaflets, the military has used phone calls and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to move from specific areas.
Israel says it targets Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods. It claims to have killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. Israel says at least 78 of its soldiers have been killed in the offensive in northern Gaza.
The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns for the 137 hostages who the Israeli military believes are still being held by Hamas. During the recent truce, 105 hostages were freed, and Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners. Most of those released by both sides were women and children.
The families of hostages have called for an urgent meeting with Israel’s Security Cabinet, saying time is “running out to save those still held by Hamas.”
Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said it struck Israeli positions near the tense Lebanon-Israel border. Eleven people – eight soldiers and three civilians – were wounded by Hezbollah fire in the area of Beit Hillel, army radio reported. The military said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon. It also said its fighter jets struck other Hezbollah targets.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the attack began about 10am in Sanaa, Yemen, and had gone on for several hours.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Pentagon says a US warship has come under attack in the Red Sea
And Iraqi militants with the Iran-backed umbrella group the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said they struck the Kharab al-Jir US military base in Syria with rockets. A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said rockets hit Rumalyn Landing Zone in Syria but there were no reports of casualties or damage.
AP