2023-10-20 08:13:05
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel bombed the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been asked to take refuge. It also began evacuating a town near its northern border with Lebanon in the latest sign that a possible ground invasion of the besieged Palestinian enclave could trigger unrest in the region.
Palestinians in Gaza reported intense airstrikes on the southern town of Khan Younis, and ambulances carrying men, women and children flocked to its hospital, Nasser, Gaza’s second largest, which is overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter.
The day before, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered ground troops to prepare to see Gaza “from within,” hinting at a possible ground offensive that seeks to crush the leaders of Hamas, the insurgent group that governs. the Strip, almost two weeks after its lethal incursion into Israeli territory. The authorities have not offered a date for the possible operation.
There are more than a million displaced people in Gaza, many of them after following the Israeli order to evacuate the northern part of the isolated coastal enclave.
Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals are rationing their dwindling medical supplies and fuel for generators, as authorities prepare logistics for a crucial aid shipment from Egypt. In the dark rooms of the territory’s centers, doctors perform surgeries by the light of cell phones and use vinegar to treat infected wounds.
The agreement for the arrival of aid to Gaza through Rafah, the only border crossing not controlled by Israel, remains fragile. Israel said supplies can only reach civilians and that it will “thwart” any diversion by Hamas. More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid are waiting in Rafah, or nearby, but on the Gazan side, repairs have not begun on a road damaged by bombing.
Israel has evacuated its communities near Gaza and Lebanon, moving residents to hotels in other parts of the country under a state-funded program. The Defense Ministry announced plans on Friday to evacuate Kiryat Shmona, a city of more than 20,000 residents near the Lebanese border.
The Lebanese insurgent group Hezbollah, which has a huge arsenal of long-range rockets, has exchanged fire with Israeli forces along its border almost daily and has hinted that it could join the war if Israel tries to annihilate Hamas. . Iran, Israel’s archenemy, backs both armed groups.
US President Joe Biden pledged unwavering support for Israel’s security “today and always,” while adding that the world “cannot ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians” in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a speech from the Oval Office on Thursday night, hours after returning to Washington from an urgent visit to Israel, Biden drew a distinction between ordinary Palestinians and Hamas. Furthermore, he linked the ongoing war in Gaza to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, noting that Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin “want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”
Biden said he will send Congress an “urgent budget request” on Friday to cover emergency military aid to Israel and Ukraine.
The Israeli army has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas assault on October 7. Although he ordered a mass evacuation to the south, his attacks have spread throughout the territory, stoking fear among the enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants that nowhere is safe.
Palestinian insurgents, for their part, have fired projectiles daily into Israel from Gaza, and tensions have escalated in the occupied West Bank, where 13 Palestinians, including five minors, died on Thursday during a clash with Israeli troops. in which they requested an airstrike, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
According to Palestinian health authorities, 3,785 people have lost their lives in Gaza since the start of the war, mainly women, children and the elderly. Nearly 12,500 were injured and another 1,300 people are believed to be buried under the rubble, they added.
More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel during the deadly Hamas incursion. Around 200 more were kidnapped. The Israeli military said Thursday it had notified the families of 203 captives.
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Krauss reported from Jerusalem and Kullab from Baghdad. Associated Press journalists Amy Teibel and Isabel Debre in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy and Jack Jeffrey in Cairo; Matthew Lee and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington and Ashraf Sweilam in el-Arish, Egypt, contributed to this report.
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