Israel fights militants in Gaza’s principal cities, with civilians nonetheless trapped within the crossfire

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants in Gaza‘s two largest cities on Monday, with civilians still trapped in the fighting even after hundreds of thousands have fled to other parts of the besieged territory.

Israel has pledged to keep fighting until it removes Hamas from power, dismantles its military capabilities and returns all of the hostages taken by militants during Hamas‘ Oct. 7 surprise attack into Israel that ignited the war.

The U.S. has provided unwavering diplomatic and military support for the campaign, even as it has urged Israel to minimize civilian casualties and further mass displacement. The war has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and driven nearly 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million individuals from their houses.

Residents stated there was heavy preventing in and across the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, the place Israeli floor forces opened a brand new line of assault final week, and battles have been nonetheless underway in elements of Gaza City and the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, the place massive areas have been decreased to rubble.

Radwa Abu Frayeh noticed heavy Israeli strikes across the European Hospital in Khan Younis, the place the U.N. humanitarian workplace says tens of hundreds of individuals have sought shelter. She stated a strike hit a house near hers late Sunday.

“The building shook,” she stated. “We thought it was the end and we would die.”

Hussein al-Sayyed, who fled Gaza City earlier within the warfare together with his three daughters, is staying in a three-story dwelling within the metropolis with round 70 others, and stated they’ve been rationing meals for days.

“Over many days, I have eaten just one meal a day to save food for the girls. They are still young,” he stated. “I don’t know where to go. No place is safe.”

Hamas is believed to have suffered heavy losses, however on Monday it fired a barrage of rockets that set off sirens in Tel Aviv. One particular person was evenly wounded, in response to the Magen David Adom rescue service, and Channel 12 broadcast footage of a cratered street and injury to vehicles and buildings in a suburb.

With little or no assist allowed into Gaza, Palestinians face extreme shortages of meals, water and different primary items. Some brazenly fear that Palestinians shall be compelled out of the territory altogether in a repeat of the mass exodus from what’s now Israel throughout the 1948 warfare surrounding its creation.

“Expect public order to completely break down soon, and an even worse situation could unfold including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres advised a discussion board in Qatar on Sunday.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli authorities spokesman, known as allegations that Israeli intends to drive individuals en masse from Gaza “outrageous and false.” But different Israeli officers have mentioned such a state of affairs, elevating alarm in Egypt and different Arab international locations that refuse to simply accept any refugees.

At the identical time, it’s not clear when or if Palestinians could be allowed to return to Gaza City and far of the north – dwelling to some 1.2 million earlier than the warfare – the place whole neighborhoods have been flattened.

Palestinians in Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied West Bank noticed a basic strike on Monday known as by activists to demand a cease-fire, after the U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council decision calling for one on Friday. An analogous, nonbinding vote is deliberate within the General Assembly on Tuesday.

Israel says it tries to keep away from harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas, saying it endangers residents by preventing in dense areas and positioning army infrastructure – together with weapons, tunnels and rocket launchers – in or close to civilian buildings.

The army stated 5 troopers have been killed in a battle in southern Gaza on Sunday, after militants fired at them from a college and set off an explosive gadget. It stated the troops, backed by plane and tanks, returned hearth and killed the militants.

Forces working in Jabaliya discovered a truck filled with long-range rockets close to a college, and a rifle, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers and explosives in a house, the military stated.

Israel has urged individuals to flee to what it says are secure areas within the south – and the preventing in and round Khan Younis has pushed tens of hundreds towards the city of Rafah and different areas alongside the border with Egypt. But Israel has continued to strike alleged militant targets all through the territory. Associated Press reporters noticed 9 our bodies dropped at an area hospital on Monday after an airstrike hit a house in Rafah in a single day.

The assist group Doctors Without Borders stated individuals within the south are additionally falling sick as they pack into crowded shelters or sleep in tents in open areas.

Nicholas Papachrysostomou, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, stated “every other patient” at a clinic in Rafah has a respiratory an infection after extended publicity to chilly and rain.

“In some shelters, 600 people share a single toilet. We are already seeing many cases of diarrhea. Often children are the worst affected,” he stated.

With the warfare in its third month, the Palestinian demise toll in Gaza has surpassed 17,900, the bulk girls and kids, in response to the Health Ministry within the Hamas-controlled territory. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Some 1,300 individuals have died on the Israeli aspect, principally civilians killed throughout the Oct. 7 assault, by which Hamas and different militants additionally captured greater than 240 individuals, together with infants, girls and older adults. More than 100 captives have been launched throughout a weeklong cease-fire late final month in exchanges for ladies and minors held in Israeli prisons.

Israel says Hamas nonetheless has 117 hostages and the stays of 20 individuals who died in captivity or throughout the preliminary assault. The Israeli toll contains 104 troopers who’ve died because the begin of the Gaza floor offensive in late October.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press author Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed.