2023-12-05 19:21:26
The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, indicated on Monday that he had received a notice from the Israeli army to “withdraw our supplies from our medical warehouse in the south of the Gaza Strip within 24 hours, because the operations in ground will render it unusable.
But the Israeli Defense body overseeing civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories (Cogat) denied having asked the WHO to evacuate its warehouse in southern Gaza.
The Israeli army, however, asked international humanitarian organizations for their “support” to “help establish infrastructure” in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area in the south of the Gaza Strip between Khan Younes and Rafah, where Israel is asking civilians to retreat.
After weeks of fighting against Hamas in northern Gaza, the Israeli army intensified its deployment in the south of the territory on Tuesday, raising fears of an “even more hellish scenario” for civilians.
Engaged since October 27 in a ground campaign in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, the Israeli army has expanded its ground operations to the entire Gaza Strip, with tanks deployed near Khan Younes, the new epicenter of tensions .
At the start of its ground operation, the Israeli army asked the population of northern Gaza to migrate to the south of the territory, which had become even more densely populated with the influx of hundreds of thousands of these displaced people.
“Intolerable” suffering of the Palestinian population
During the night, witnesses told AFP of violent fighting near Khan Younes and air raids towards Rafah, at the southern tip of the territory, while the Palestinian Wafa agency reported “several” deaths in a strike. in Gaza City, further north.
International organizations are alarmed at the risks for civilians in Gaza, where “all telecommunications services” are at a standstill, due to “a cut in the main fiber networks on the Israeli side”, according to the telecoms group Paltel Palestinians.
Since the resumption of hostilities on December 1 after a seven-day truce, “Israeli military operations have extended to southern Gaza, forcing tens of thousands more people to flee into increasingly concentrated spaces, with a in desperate need of food, water, shelter and security,” Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian Territories, said in a statement.
“The conditions necessary to provide aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If this is possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to materialize, to which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond “, she added.
“No one is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go,” insisted the Canadian, rejecting in these conditions the idea of “safe zones” mentioned by the United States. These zones can be “neither secure nor humanitarian when they are declared unilaterally,” said the UN official, whose visa Israel announced last week would not renew.
“Two civilians killed for each combatant”
Israeli ground forces are carrying out operations against Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip, an Israeli army spokesperson said.
Dozens of Israeli tanks, troop transports and bulldozers entered the southern Gaza Strip, near the town of Khan Younes.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, who arrived in the Gaza Strip on Monday, denounced the “intolerable” suffering of the population and called for a “political solution”.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, a strike on an entrance to the Kamal Adwan hospital, located in the north of Gaza, left several people dead according to the Palestinian Wafa agency.
According to a latest report given by the Hamas Health Department, Israeli bombings in Gaza have left 15,899 dead as of Monday since the October 7 attack. 70% of the victims are women and children, or around two civilians killed for every Hamas fighter killed in the Gaza Strip, senior Israeli military officials said Monday, on condition of anonymity.
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