KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee components of southern Gaza, residents mentioned Thursday, signaling a doable enlargement of their offensive to the zone the place a lot of the territory’s inhabitants has fled to flee Israel‘s bombardment and ground assault.
Meanwhile, soldiers continued searching Shifa Hospital in the north, in a raid that began early Wednesday. They displayed guns they say were found hidden in one building, but have yet to release any evidence of the central Hamas command center that Israel has said is concealed beneath the complex. Hamas and staff at the hospital, Gaza‘s largest, deny the allegations.
Broadening operations to the south — where Israel already carries out daily air raids — threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory. Over 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, with most having fled to the south, where food, water and electricity are increasingly scarce.
It’s not clear the place else they may go, as Egypt refuses to permit a mass switch onto its soil.
The territory was reduce off from the surface world once more Thursday, when all communication companies shut down due to a scarcity of gas, in keeping with the Palestinian telecoms supplier.
The battle, now in its sixth week, was triggered by a wide-ranging Hamas assault into southern Israel on Oct. 7 by which the militants killed over 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and captured some 240 males, ladies and kids. Israel has responded with a weekslong air marketing campaign and a floor invasion of northern Gaza, vowing to take away Hamas from energy and crush its army capabilities.
More than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them ladies and minors, in keeping with Palestinian well being authorities. Another 2,700 have been reported lacking, with most believed to be buried beneath the rubble. The official depend doesn’t differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, and Israel says it has killed hundreds of militants.
The battle has infected tensions elsewhere. On Thursday, gunmen shot and wounded 4 folks at a checkpoint on the primary street linking Jerusalem to Israeli settlements within the occupied West Bank.
The three attackers had been killed, in keeping with police, who mentioned the assailants had assault rifles, handguns and hatchets, and had been getting ready a large-scale assault in Jerusalem.
Israeli troops stormed into Gaza‘s largest hospital Wednesday, searching for traces of Hamas inside and beneath the facility, where newborns and hundreds of other patients have suffered for days without electricity and other basic necessities.
Troops searched the underground levels of the hospital on Thursday and detained technicians responsible for running its equipment, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement.
The military said its soldiers were accompanied by medical teams bringing in incubators and other supplies.
After encircling Shifa for days, Israel faces pressure to prove its claim that Hamas used the patients, staff and civilians sheltering there to provide cover for its fighters. The allegation — which the U.S. has said it has intelligence to support — is part of Israel‘s broader accusation that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields and sites like medical centers as a cover for military operations.
The military released video from inside Shifa showing three duffel bags it said it found hidden around an MRI lab, each containing an assault rifle, grenades and Hamas uniforms, as well as a closet that contained a number of assault rifles without ammunition clips. The Associated Press could not independently verify the Israeli claims that the weapons were found inside the hospital.
Hamas and Gaza health officials deny militants operate in Shifa — a hospital that employs some 1,500 people and has more than 500 beds. Palestinians and rights groups accuse Israel of recklessly endangering civilians.
Munir al-Boursh, a senior official with Gaza’s Health Ministry contained in the hospital, mentioned troops ransacked the basement and different buildings, and questioned and scanned the faces of sufferers, workers and other people sheltering within the facility.
The leaflets, dropped in areas east of the southern city of Khan Younis, warned civilians to evacuate and mentioned anybody within the neighborhood of militants or their positions “is putting his life in danger.” Similar leaflets had been dropped over northern Gaza for weeks forward of the bottom invasion.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant mentioned Wednesday the bottom operation will ultimately “include both the north and south. We will strike Hamas wherever it is.”
The army says it has largely consolidated its management of the north, together with seizing and demolishing authorities buildings. Video launched by the military Thursday confirmed troopers transferring between closely broken buildings via holes blown of their partitions.
The army mentioned it had blown up a residence belonging to Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas chief primarily based overseas. It was unclear if anybody was contained in the constructing.
