Published December 30, 2023
Thick plumes of smoke could be seen drifting over the top of buildings today in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Khan Yunis, the focus of recent fighting in a war that is now in its 13th week.
Fighting raged today across Gaza, where displaced Palestinians are ‘exhausted’ with no end in sight to the war between the besieged territory’s Hamas rulers and Israel.
The enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry said that 165 Gazans were killed over the past 24 hours, while a total of 56,165 others have been wounded in the fighting.
It added that at least 21,672 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel erupted on October 7.
Further south, the border city of Rafah near Egypt was teeming with Gazans seeking safety from Israel’s relentless bombardment in its fight against Hamas terrorists.
‘Enough with this war! We are totally exhausted,’ said Umm Louay Abu Khater, a 49-year-old woman who had fled her home in Khan Yunis, taking refuge in Rafah.
‘We are constantly displaced from one place to another in cold weather,’ she said. ‘The bombs keep falling on us day and night.’
The Israeli army kept up its campaign in the face of mounting international pushback, reporting ‘fierce battles’ and air strikes across the narrow Palestinian territory.
The fighting began with Hamas’s bloody October 7 attacks, which left about 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians.
Terrorists also took about 250 people hostage, and Israel says 129 of them remain in Gaza.
Israel’s army says 168 soldiers have been killed in combat inside the territory.
There was continuous artillery shelling overnight in Rafah and Khan Yunis, and the Gaza health ministry said ‘multiple’ people had died in a strike on a house in Nuseirat refugee camp, in the territory’s centre.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday reiterated his call for ‘an immediate humanitarian ceasefire’ as conditions in the Strip keep deteriorating.
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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk
RELATED: Israeli forces push deeper into central and southern Gaza amid airstrikes
Palestinian residents report heavy air and artillery fire; IDF says it killed dozens of terror operatives in strikes and gunfights, raided Hamas intelligence HQ in Khan Younis
Israeli troops maneuver in the Gaza Strip on December 30, 2023. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
Published December 30, 2023
Israeli tanks pushed deeper into districts in central and southern Gaza Friday overnight and Saturday under heavy air and artillery fire, pressing forward with the ground campaign in Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists.
Fighting late on Friday and early Saturday was focused in al-Bureij, Nuseirat, and Maghazi in central Gaza, and Khan Younis in the southern part of the Strip, backed by intensive air strikes.
A Hamas health official alleged the strikes had killed 100 Palestinians and injured 150 in the central Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours. The terror group does not differentiate in its reports between civilians and combatants.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the biggest and most important medical facility in the south of the territory, Red Crescent images posted online showed ambulances operating amid smashed streets, carrying injured children.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops of the 7th Armored Brigade had advanced further in southern Gaza, while raiding Hamas sites in Khan Younis, including the headquarters of the terror group’s intelligence division in the city.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
RELATED: Gazans ‘exhausted’ as Israel-Hamas war rages on
Published December 29, 2023
Fighting raged Saturday across Gaza, where displaced Palestinians said they were “exhausted” with no end in sight to the war between the besieged territory’s Hamas rulers and Israel, now in its 13th week.
Smoke billowed over the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Khan Yunis, the focus of recent fighting in the grinding war, which was triggered by Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.
Further south, the border city of Rafah near Egypt was teeming with Gazans seeking safety from Israel’s relentless bombardment in its fight against Palestinian militants.
“Enough with this war! We are totally exhausted,” said Umm Louay Abu Khater, a 49-year-old woman who had fled her home in Khan Yunis, taking refuge in Rafah.
“We are constantly displaced from one place to another in cold weather,” she said. “The bombs keep falling on us day and night.”
The Israeli army kept up its campaign in the face of mounting international pushback, reporting “fierce battles” and air strikes across the Palestinian territory.
The fighting began with Hamas’s bloody October 7 attacks, which left about 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took about 250 people hostage, and Israel says 129 of them remain in captivity.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the Israeli military campaign has killed at least 21,672 people, mostly women and children.
A ministry statement on Saturday said 165 Gazans were killed over the previous 24 hours.
The Israeli army says 168 soldiers have been killed in combat inside the territory.
An AFP correspondent reported continuous shelling of Rafah and Khan Yunis overnight, and the health ministry said “multiple” people had died in a strike on a house in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
– ‘Year of destruction’ –
Medics in Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said they were facing severe shortages.
“The hospital is receiving a lot more (patients) than its capacity, in fact we are functioning at 300 percent of our… capacity,” doctor Ahmad Abu Mustafa said in footage shared by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The beds are full… and we are basically short on all sorts of medicine supplies.”
The health ministry appealed to the international community for more support, including greater assistance in evacuating more patients.
The fighting has put 23 hospitals and 53 health centres out of service, while 104 ambulances have been destroyed, the ministry said.
In central Gaza’s Zawayda, Palestinians pulled the body of a child from under the rubble after an Israeli strike.
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SOURCE: www.al-monitor.com
