Three Palestinian boys carry two bowls of meals every, because the make their approach alongside a road previous the rubble of buildings destroyed in earlier Israeli bombardment, within the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, north of Gaza Metropolis on July 3, 2024, amid the continued battle between Israel and the militant Hamas group. Israel’s navy mentioned on July 3, it was conducting raids backed by air strikes in northern Gaza, killing “dozens” of militants in an space the place it had declared the command construction of Hamas dismantled months in the past. (AFP)
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES – Tens of 1000’s of Palestinians have fled southern Gaza since Israel issued an evacuation order, amid fears of a brand new offensive within the space which got here below Israeli bombardment on Wednesday.
On Israel’s northern entrance, Lebanon’s Hezbollah mentioned it fired 100 rockets at Israeli targets in retaliation for a strike that killed a senior commander, heightening fears of full-scale warfare between the longtime foes.
Palestinian militant group Hamas mentioned it had despatched new “concepts” to Qatari mediators on ending the practically nine-month battle with Israel, which confirmed it was “evaluating” Hamas’s assertion on a deal to free its hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier reiterated that Israel would solely finish its warfare with Hamas within the Gaza Strip as soon as its targets had been achieved.
His navy chief, Herzi Halevi, mentioned Israel was engaged in “a protracted marketing campaign” to destroy Hamas over the October 7 assault and to convey residence the hostages held by Palestinian militants.
The United Nations mentioned warfare had “unleashed a maelstrom of human distress” and that the newest evacuation order had plunged but extra Palestinians into “an abyss of struggling”.
Ten days after Netanyahu mentioned the warfare’s “intense section” was winding down, the Israeli navy once more rained down air strikes and artillery fireplace on militants within the Shujaiya district.
The air power struck “over 50 terror infrastructure websites” throughout Gaza in 24 hours whereas floor troops “eradicated terrorists”, positioned tunnels and located weapons together with AK-47 assault rifles, the navy mentioned.
1000’s have fled the combating in Shujaiya, amongst them Umm Bashar al-Jamal, 42, who was now sheltering in Gaza Metropolis’s Yarmuk sports activities stadium.
“We had been displaced 5 days in the past,” she mentioned. “We fled from Shujaiya. We woke as much as the sound of tanks. The homes had been bulldozed. All our houses!”
The Israeli military — which issued an evacuation order for Shujaiya every week in the past — on Monday did the identical for a bigger space close to Khan Yunis and Rafah within the south, elevating fears of renewed heavy battles there.
Tens of 1000’s of Palestinians have once more taken to the highway, many bundling their scant belongings on prime of automobiles or donkey carts as they sought security elsewhere within the bombed-out wasteland.
‘Pawns in a board recreation’
The UN company supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, mentioned 250,000 folks had been affected by the newest evacuation order that covers southern areas bordering Israel and Egypt.
Nearly all sufferers within the European Gaza Hospital and the Purple Cross subject hospital determined to flee following the evacuation order, the World Well being Group mentioned.
Although the European Gaza Hospital itself isn’t below evacuation directions, the order has impacted operations.
“Now solely three sufferers stay on the European Gaza Hospital and three on the ICRC subject hospital,” the WHO mentioned, citing figures from Tuesday.
UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman mentioned the southern evacuation order covers 117 sq. kilometres (45 sq. miles), “making it the biggest such order since October”.
“Frankly, it’s a step within the improper path. The path we need to be heading is to discover a negotiated two states answer,” mentioned the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
Andrea De Domenico, who heads the United Nations humanitarian workplace, OCHA, within the occupied Palestinian territories, mentioned 9 out of 10 folks in Gaza had been displaced not less than as soon as by the warfare.
“Behind these numbers, there are folks… which have fears and grievances. They usually had most likely desires and hopes; the much less and fewer I worry at the moment, sadly,” he informed journalists.
“Individuals who within the final 9 months have been moved round like pawns in a board recreation.”
Amid the warfare, siege and mass displacement, greater than 150,000 folks have contracted pores and skin illnesses within the squalid circumstances, the World Well being Group mentioned.
Wafaa Elwan, a Palestinian mom of seven who now lives in a tent metropolis, mentioned: “We sleep on the bottom, on sand the place worms come out beneath us.”
She mentioned her five-year-old son, a lot of whose physique was coated in rashes and welts, “can’t sleep via the night time as a result of he can’t cease scratching his physique”.
‘Winds of defeatism’
The Gaza warfare broke out after Hamas’s October 7 assault on southern Israel resulted within the deaths of 1,195 folks, largely civilians, in accordance with an AFP tally based mostly on Israeli figures.
The militants additionally seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom stay in Gaza together with 42 the military says are lifeless.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed not less than 37,953 folks, additionally largely civilians, in accordance with figures from the Hamas-run territory’s well being ministry.
The Israeli navy mentioned Wednesday that “operational actions proceed all through the Gaza Strip”.
The Gaza civil defence company mentioned seven folks had been killed when a strike hit a household home north of Gaza Metropolis.
One other strike killed three folks in a automotive at Al-Maghazi refugee camp within the central Deir al-Balah space, an AFP reporter mentioned.
The New York Instances has quoted Israeli safety officers as saying prime generals see a truce as one of the simplest ways to safe the discharge of the remaining hostages, even when that meant not reaching all of the warfare targets.
Netanyahu strongly rejected this and vowed Israel wouldn’t give in to the “winds of defeatism”.
“The warfare will finish as soon as Israel achieves all of its targets, together with the destruction of Hamas and the discharge of all of our hostages,” he mentioned.
On the Israeli-Lebanese border, violence escalated between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
The Israeli navy confirmed it killed a Hezbollah commander and, in response, Hezbollah mentioned it fired “100 Katyusha rockets” at Israeli positions within the annexed Golan Heights.
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The Iran-backed militant group additionally claimed different retaliatory strikes on two bases in northern Israel.
