Palestinians stream right into a southern Gaza city as Israel expands its offensive within the middle

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of hundreds of Palestinians streamed into an already crowded city on the southernmost finish of Gaza in latest days, in line with the United Nations, fleeing Israel’s bombardment of the middle of the strip, the place hospital officers stated dozens have been killed Friday.

Israel’s unprecedented air and floor offensive in opposition to Hamas has displaced some 85% of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents, sending swells of individuals searching for shelter in Israeli-designated secure areas that the army has however additionally bombed. That has left Palestinians with a harrowing sense that nowhere is secure within the tiny enclave.

People arrived in Rafah in vehicles, in carts and on foot. Those who haven’t discovered house within the already overwhelmed shelters have constructed tents on the roadsides.

“People are using any empty space to build shacks,” stated Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, the U.N. company for Palestinian refugees. “Some are sleeping in their cars, and others are sleeping in the open.”

Israel’s widening marketing campaign, which has already flattened a lot of the north, is now targeted on the city refugee camps of Bureij, Nuseirat and Maghazi in central Gaza, the place Israeli warplanes and artillery have leveled buildings.

But combating has not abated within the north, and the town of Khan Younis within the south, the place Israel believes Hamas’ leaders are hiding, can also be a smoldering battleground. Militants have continued to fireside rockets, largely at Israel’s south.

The battle has already killed over 21,300 Palestinians, most of them girls and kids, and sparked a humanitarian disaster that has left 1 / 4 of Gaza‘s population starving. The death toll from the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israeli officials have brushed off international calls for a cease-fire, saying it would amount to a victory for Hamas, which the military has promised to dismantle. It has also vowed to bring back more than 100 hostages still held by the militants after their Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war. The assault killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

The military says 168 of its soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began.

The U.N. said late Thursday that around 100,000 people have arrived in Rafah, along the border with Egypt, in recent days. The influx crams even more people into one of Gaza’s most densely populated areas.

Israel has informed residents of central Gaza to move south, however even because the displaced have poured in, Rafah has not been spared.

A strike Thursday night destroyed a residential constructing, killing a minimum of 23 folks, in line with the media workplace of the close by Al-Kuwaiti Hospital.

At the hospital, residents rushed in a child whose face was flecked with mud and who wailed as docs tore open a Mickey Mouse onesie to test for accidents.

Shorouq Abu Oun fled the combating in northern Gaza a month in the past and sheltered at her sister’s home, which is situated close to Thursday’s strike

“We were displaced from the north and came here as they (the Israeli military) said it is safe,” stated Abu Oun, talking on the hospital the place the lifeless and wounded have been taken. “I wish we were martyred there (in northern Gaza) and didn’t come here.”

Residents stated Friday many homes have been hit in a single day in Nuseirat and Maghazi and that heavy combating befell in Bureij. The al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah stated it acquired the our bodies of 40 folks, together with 28 girls, who have been killed in strikes.

“They are hitting everywhere,” Saeed Moustafa, a Palestinian man from Nuseirat, stated. “Families are killed inside their homes and the streets. They are killed everywhere.”

Israel stated this week it was increasing its floor offensive into central Gaza, focusing on a belt of crowded neighborhoods that have been constructed to accommodate a number of the lots of of hundreds of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 battle surrounding Israel’s creation.

Israel blames the excessive demise toll on Hamas, which it accuses of embedding contained in the civilian inhabitants, saying that its forces have uncovered weapons troves and underground tunnel shafts in residential buildings, colleges and mosques.

But even Israel’s closest ally, the United States, has urged it to take extra precautions to spare civilians and permit in additional support. Israel says it warns civilians to depart areas that it’s focusing on in a number of methods and that it has labored to be extra exact in its evacuation orders.

Civilians are bearing a staggering toll within the combating. On Sunday, an Israeli strike on the Maghazi camp killed a minimum of 106 folks, in line with hospital information, one of many battle’s deadliest.

In a preliminary assessment of the strike, the Israeli army stated that buildings close to the goal have been additionally hit, and that “likely caused unintended harm to additional uninvolved civilians.” In a press release Thursday, the army stated it regretted the hurt to civilians and stated it will be taught from the incident.

Eylon Levy, a authorities spokesman, informed Britain’s Sky News that the flawed munition was used within the strike, resulting in “a regrettable mistake.”

“This should not have happened,” he stated.

Israel seldom feedback on particular strikes and has not often acknowledged any fault even when civilians are killed.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press author Tia Goldenberg contributed to this report from Tel Aviv, Israel.