Israeli forces on Sunday fought Palestinian militants around southern Gaza’s main city, as the UN chief decried divisions that had “paralysed” the Security Council’s response to the over two-months-old war.
Hamas, whose deadly October 7 attacks triggered the conflict, on Sunday said that Israel had launched “very violent raids” targeting the biggest southern city of Khan Yunis and the road from there to Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
Amid dire warnings of food shortages and mass displacement in Gaza as a winter chill sets in, Bushra Khalidi of aid group Oxfam warned that the plight of trapped Palestinians “is not just a catastrophe, it’s apocalyptic”.
A source close to Hamas and Islamic Jihad said both militant groups were engaged in “fierce clashes” with Israeli forces near Khan Yunis.
Palestinian militants reported fighting in Jabalia and Gaza City’s Shejaiya district in northern Gaza, while the Israeli army said on Sunday it had struck “more than 250 terror targets” in the previous 24 hours.
Overnight strikes hit “a Hamas military communications site” and “underground tunnel shafts” in southern Gaza, as well as a Hamas military command centre in Shejaiya, an army statement said. The fighting has killed at least 17 700 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas after the group’s attacks on October 7 when its fighters broke through Gaza’s border, killed about 1 200 people and seized hostages, Israeli officials said.
Israel on Saturday said 137 captives remained in the Palestinian territory.
Hundreds of Israelis rallied again in Tel Aviv, holding placards with the messages “bring them home now” and “they trust us to get them out of hell”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he regretted the Security Council’s failure to offer solutions to the war, two days after a US veto prevented a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
Addressing Qatar’s Doha Forum, Guterres said:“Regrettably, the Security Council failed” to call for a ceasefire. “I can promise, I will not give up.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday that Israel will continue its “just war to eliminate” Hamas; and army chief Herzi Halevi urged his forces to “press harder” against the militant group.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini sounded the alarm over what he feared would be a mass expulsion of Palestinians into Egypt in an opinion piece on Saturday in the Los Angeles Times.
An Israeli spokesperson replied: “There is not, never was and never will be an Israeli plan to move the residents of Gaza to Egypt.”
Aid groups have warned that Gaza is on the brink of being overwhelmed by disease and starvation.
The UN humanitarian agency Ocha said 100 trucks carrying aid entered Gaza via Rafah, “well below” the daily average before the war.
In Gaza City, a journalist said thousands were sheltering in the Al-Shifa hospital, partly destroyed following an Israeli raid last month.
An estimated 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced, according to UN figures, many now in the south and running out of safe places to go.
The UN children’s agency, Unicef said nearly 1 million children had been displaced.
“They are now being pushed further and further south into tiny, overcrowded areas without water, food or protection,” said Adele Khodr of Unicef. “The restrictions placed on the delivery of lifesaving aid ... are another death sentence for children.”
Ocha reported that Israeli forces on Saturday “detained dozens of Palestinian men and boys” in the northern city of Beit Lahia. Israeli media have reported that Hamas militants had surrendered to Israeli forces in several locations across Gaza.
Footage published by Israeli media showed groups of men stripped down to their underwear, with some appearing to hand over weapons.
The army said that “it is often necessary for terror suspects to hand over their clothes ... to ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weaponry”.
National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi told Israeli TV that 7 000 “terrorists” had been killed.
The Israeli army says it had lost 97 soldiers in the Gaza campaign, with two others wounded in a failed bid to rescue hostages late Thursday.
Hamas said one captive, Sahar Baruch, 25, was killed in the operation.
His death was later confirmed by his kibbutz community of Beeri, one of the worst hit on October 7. A one-week truce that collapsed on December 1 saw 105 hostages freed, including 80 Israelis released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Mediator Qatar on Sunday said, efforts to secure a new truce and release more hostages were ongoing.
The fighting in Gaza has spurred fears of a wider regional conflict.
Cape Times