The Israeli army has launched the most intense attacks against Gaza “by land, sea and air” – as announced in a statement – since the end of the ceasefire on December 1. In the last 24 hours they have hit more than 450 targets, the highest number announced by the Armed Forces since the fighting resumed, as reported by a military spokesperson on Friday morning. In the town of Khan Yunis, considered the main stronghold of Hamas in the south of the Strip, the infantry is fighting “hole by hole and house by house,” in reference to the tunnel system of the Palestinian militants, according to a video recorded on the terrain with background shots by General Dan Goldfuss, of the 98 Brigade.
The high commissioner of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has warned in a letter sent to the General Assembly that, if there is no shelter and no humanitarian aid arrives, “civilians in Gaza risk dying or will be forced to march to Egypt,” while calling for a new ceasefire.
The death toll in the Strip exceeds 17,000, with 350 new victims this Friday, and 1,900 injured in the last few hours, according to the health authorities of the enclave, whose government is in the hands of Hamas. They have specified, however, that they do not have sufficient capacity to know the exact number of people found among the rubble of bombed homes and buildings. Intensive care units in hospitals in the southern Strip are at 250% capacity and are calling for help, mainly medical supplies, to treat patients with fractures and burns, according to the same source.
It is in that same southern area, where the bulk of 70% of the 2.3 million inhabitants who are displaced by the conflict continue to be concentrated. They are the main victims of the humanitarian crisis that increasingly worries the international community in the midst of the blockade so that the necessary aid does not enter the Palestinian Mediterranean enclave. UNRWA has announced that it is not capable of carrying out its work under these conditions, as Lazzarini expresses in his letter, dated this Thursday. “UNRWA’s ability to continue fulfilling its mandate in Gaza has become very limited. With constant shelling, little and irregular flow of food and other humanitarian supplies into the Strip, compared to the immense needs of displaced people in our overcrowded shelters and beyond, UNRWA’s ability to assist and protect people is shrinking rapidly.”
The agency, according to its head, welcomes 1.2 million people in its facilities and is the main platform from which aid is distributed to 2.2 million. The situation keeps them on the verge of “collapse” but they continue to keep staff in shelters and health centers, and they also care for traumatized families who even arrive with their dead children. All this despite the fact that they have lost 130 employees in the bombings, some with their families, and 70% of their own workers suffer the rigor of forced displacement and food shortages. “If UNRWA collapses, humanitarian assistance in Gaza collapses,” announces Lazzarini, who does not remember having experienced anything like this in his 35 years dedicated to emergencies.
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Clashes between soldiers and militiamen take place in Khan Yunis, between infrastructure such as schools and mosques, from where Hamas members fight or hide, and are sometimes “eliminated” while trying to escape through the tunnels, according to a statement from the army. The clashes take place both in open areas and in the very heart of this town, which before the war had 200,000 inhabitants and which, with the vast majority of Gazans displaced by the fighting, had doubled its population. The homes of Hamas leaders are also military targets, and weapons and intelligence material have been found in some of them, according to the Israeli army.
Rows of half-naked men detained
Meanwhile, the images, photos and videos, of dozens of half-naked men on the streets of Gaza detained by Israeli soldiers continue to cause a great impact since they began to come to light on Thursday. A senior Hamas official accused Israel this Friday of committing a “heinous crime against innocent civilians.” The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), for its part, reacted by demanding respect for humanitarian laws. “We emphasize the importance of treating all detainees with humanity and dignity, in accordance with humanitarian standards,” spokesperson Jessica Moussan said in a statement.
Sources from the Al Araby network confirmed that among them is the reporter Diaa Al kahlout who works for its associated newspaper. Al Araby Al Jadeed and that he was detained along with brothers and cousins, according to what his family environment reported to that general Arabic channel based in Qatar. The Committee to Protect Journalists – which warned of his arrest on Wednesday in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza – has demanded his release through a statement. Other people have warned of relatives who appear in the images without belonging to Hamas or Palestinian armed groups, reports the Reuters agency.
The Israeli authorities, for their part, justified the operation because they were people who were in areas of northern Gaza that had been ordered evacuated for weeks, such as the Jabalia refugee camp or the Shujayia neighborhood, considered by Israel ” strongholds and centers of gravity of Hamas,” according to spokesman Eylon Levy.
In previous days, Palestinian detainees, also tied and blindfolded, had already been seen being transported through Israeli territory aboard military vehicles, according to photos from the France Presse agency. This Wednesday, a group of journalists was able to see one of these groups around the Nir Oz kibbutz, less than five kilometers from Khan Yunis.
“Demanding the end of the annihilation of Gaza and its people is not denying the atrocities of October 7,” Lazzarini adds in the letter, in a clear message to the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose confrontation with the UN has worsened in recent years. hours. The high commissioner includes in the text the invocation of article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations to which the Secretary General, António Guterres, resorted, whose resignation Israel continues to demand.
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