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Gaza/Jerusalem (Reuters) – At least 20 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the south of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
The health authority controlled by the radical Islamic Hamas said on Tuesday that three houses were destroyed in the Rafah area on the border with Egypt. In the town of Khan Yunis, also in the south of the coastal strip, residents reported fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters. Accordingly, Israel used tanks and aircraft to bombard targets near the center of the city.
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Palestinians have sought protection from the north of the Gaza Strip in the supposedly safe south at Israel’s behest. On Monday, the health authority announced that 19,453 people had been killed and around 52,300 injured in the Palestinian territory since the Israeli counterattacks began. With the campaign, Israel is reacting to the massacre by Hamas fighters on October 7th, in which around 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed and around 240 others were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
“WE WANT PEACE”
According to a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), around 4,000 people have sought refuge on the grounds of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. They are now exposed to Israeli attacks, said Richard Peeperkorn. The Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip is no longer functional after it was stormed by Israeli soldiers last week. The patients would have had to be evacuated. “We can no longer afford to lose hospitals,” warned Peeperkorn, who represents the WHO in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated the goal of destroying Hamas. Internationally, however, criticism of the armed forces’ actions is growing in view of the suffering of the civilian population. The father of four, Raed, has already had to evacuate his family twice. The people of Gaza are exhausted, said the 45-year-old. “Money is no longer worth anything, there is nothing more to be had,” he reported. “We had to get out of bed in the middle of the night, surviving the bombardment and looking for food on the streets, we are tired,” he said in Rafah. “We want peace, a ceasefire, ceasefire, whatever you call it, but please end the war.”
(Reporting by Bassam Masoud, Phil Stewart and James Mackenzie; Edited by Alexander Ratz; Edited by; If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected])