GAZA: (Reuters) – GAZA, Dec. 6 After reaching the center of the city of Khan Younis on Wednesday, Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hamas in southern Gaza. As the number of safe places decreases, Palestinian civilians are forced to seek refuge elsewhere.
Israeli warplanes also attacked targets all along the heavily populated coast. This was one of the worst times of fighting in the two months that Israel has been fighting to get rid of the Palestinian group.
As supplies ran out, Palestinian doctors said hospitals were full of dead and hurt people, most of them women and children. Hundreds of thousands of people who had to leave the north were looking for safety in the few places in the south that Israel had declared to be safe.
In Geneva, the head of the UN’s human rights office said the situation was “apocalyptic” and that both sides might be breaking people’s rights in very bad ways. The UN said that food could not be sent through the Rafah border crossing in Egypt.
After taking over most of northern Gaza, Israeli tanks and troops moved further south and surrounded Khan Younis after the seven-day truce ended last week.
Israel said that its troops had hit hundreds of targets, such as a rebel group near a school in the north. The armed part of Hamas, called the al-Qassam Brigades, said the fighting was very rough.
People who live in the area said that overnight Israeli bombing got worse, killing and hurting people, and that tanks were fighting Palestinian fighters north and east of Khan Younis.
After their homes were destroyed in an airstrike overnight in the al-Amal area of Khan Younis, some Palestinians said they were lucky to have gotten away.
There was an attack on a house where Hamdi Tanira and about 30 other people, including 20 children, were sleeping. “I swear we don’t even know how we made it out alive,” he said.
One of the survivors, Amal Mehdi, said, “We were sleeping peacefully and not bothering anyone.” “All of a sudden, the bombardment hit us, you wouldn’t know where it came from, it was a miracle that we were pulled from under the rubble.”
Residents and Hamas media said that tanks, navy boats, and war planes hit parts of the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as roads and homes.
They said that tanks were set up on the edge of the Khan Younis refugee camp, not far from the home of Yehya Al-Sinwar, who is the boss of Hamas in Gaza. It was not clear if anyone was there.
The Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War said that Hamas fighters were switching methods and using anti-personnel mines and homemade bombs. This was because the fighting was moving closer to the ground.
Concerns around the world
Israel started its military operation after Hamas fighters attacked on October 7. They went through Israeli towns killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, according to Israel’s count.
On Tuesday, Hamas’s media office said that since then, at least 16,248 people had been killed in Gaza. This included 7,112 children and 4,885 women. Those numbers were not checked right away by the Gaza health minister.
It said that 84 of its troops had died since the operation began five weeks ago.
Not many hospitals are still open in Gaza, and the ones that are there are barely working. Volker Turk, the head of the UN’s human rights office, told reporters that his coworkers had said the situation in the area was like the end of the world.
“In these circumstances, there is a heightened risk of atrocity crimes,” he stated.
The UN says that “atrocity crimes” are murder, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, which are all listed in international agreements.
Colonel Moshe Tetro, an Israeli officer in charge of humanitarian affairs, said that the military has been using phone calls, online statements, and leaflets to warn civilians ahead of time to leave areas of Khan Younis where it plans to act.
The Israeli military said that Hamas was using civilians as human shields and stopping civilians from going to safe areas. The group rejected the claims.
People in Gaza say there is nowhere safe to go because the towns and shelters that are still open are full and Israel is hitting places where it tells people to go.
People who had to leave their homes and were being held near the border said they were afraid Israel would try to force them into Egypt, but they would not go.
“This is the last place we’ll go. If they want to deport us by force, we won’t go.” “We’d rather die where we are,” said one man who was sleeping outside with some friends. They didn’t even have tents.
It says that Hamas still has some women and children as slaves, and its goal is to find and free them. While the shooting stopped, Hamas freed more than 100 hostages, but they are still holding 138 people.
The US, which is Israel’s closest ally, has asked Israel to do more to let more fuel and other help into Gaza and protect civilians.
Turk of the UN said that the only way to end the war was for Israel to stop occupying Palestinian land and for Palestine to become an independent country.
