Israel squeezes Gaza cities, heaping misery
Published: 07:12 PM,Dec 08,2023 | EDITED : 11:12 PM,Dec 08,2023
A picture shows smoke rising above buildings during an Israeli strike in northern Gaza. — AFP
GAZA: Israeli forces squeezed Gaza's main cities on Friday, in two months sparked war that has killed thousands, left the Palestinian territory in ruins. Weeks of fighting have left 17,487 people dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from the health ministry in Gaza.
Israel has relentlessly bombarded Gaza and sent in tanks and ground troops since the war began on October 7. Vast areas have been reduced to a wasteland. The UN says about 80 percent of the population has been displaced, facing shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine, along with the threat of disease.
On Friday, the health ministry reported hundreds dead in strikes near Gaza City, and even more in Jabalia and Khan Yunis. Fighting raged around cities in the centre and south, including Deir al-Balah, where ambulances carried numerous wounded.
'May God punish those who can see our suffering and remain calm,' said one Gazan, Rimah Mansi, who added that 'all those we love' were gone.
Further south, in Al-Katiba district of Khan Yunis, residents emerged to scenes of desolation after Israeli strikes, a journalist said.
The fighting has pushed Gazans further and further south, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp for many of the 1.9 million displaced. On Thursday, 69 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies and fuel entered Gaza from Egypt, the UN said. This is well below the average 500 truckloads, including fuel, which entered Gaza daily before the war, it said.
Later Friday the UN Security Council meets after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked the UN Charter's Article 99, which no one in his post has done for decades. The article allows the secretary-general to bring to the council's attention 'any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security'.
Guterres is seeking a 'humanitarian ceasefire' to prevent 'a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians' and the entire Middle East. The Netanyahu government has responded angrily to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoking the rarely used Article 99 of the world body's charter.
An investigation into October 13 strikes in southern Lebanon that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others found it involved a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region. The nature of the strikes and lack of military activity in the immediate vicinity of the journalists indicate the attack was deliberate and targeted, the investigation found. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the strikes merit a 'war crime' investigation.
Israel's army said the strikes occurred in an 'active combat zone' and were under review. — AFP
Israel has relentlessly bombarded Gaza and sent in tanks and ground troops since the war began on October 7. Vast areas have been reduced to a wasteland. The UN says about 80 percent of the population has been displaced, facing shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine, along with the threat of disease.
On Friday, the health ministry reported hundreds dead in strikes near Gaza City, and even more in Jabalia and Khan Yunis. Fighting raged around cities in the centre and south, including Deir al-Balah, where ambulances carried numerous wounded.
'May God punish those who can see our suffering and remain calm,' said one Gazan, Rimah Mansi, who added that 'all those we love' were gone.
Further south, in Al-Katiba district of Khan Yunis, residents emerged to scenes of desolation after Israeli strikes, a journalist said.
The fighting has pushed Gazans further and further south, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp for many of the 1.9 million displaced. On Thursday, 69 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies and fuel entered Gaza from Egypt, the UN said. This is well below the average 500 truckloads, including fuel, which entered Gaza daily before the war, it said.
Later Friday the UN Security Council meets after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked the UN Charter's Article 99, which no one in his post has done for decades. The article allows the secretary-general to bring to the council's attention 'any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security'.
Guterres is seeking a 'humanitarian ceasefire' to prevent 'a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians' and the entire Middle East. The Netanyahu government has responded angrily to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoking the rarely used Article 99 of the world body's charter.
An investigation into October 13 strikes in southern Lebanon that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others found it involved a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region. The nature of the strikes and lack of military activity in the immediate vicinity of the journalists indicate the attack was deliberate and targeted, the investigation found. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the strikes merit a 'war crime' investigation.
Israel's army said the strikes occurred in an 'active combat zone' and were under review. — AFP