The Israeli army on Tuesday further stepped up its offensive against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip, where the civilian population is experiencing “hell on earth”, according to a UN official, and trying to escape the bombs in humanitarian conditions more desperate every day.
Ground battles accompanied by deadly airstrikes rage between Israeli soldiers and Islamist fighters in the sector of Khan Younes, the large southern city, where hundreds of thousands of civilians had taken refuge after fleeing the war in the north of the territory. Palestinian.
Driven to flee again, tens of thousands of them are now sheltering in makeshift camps in the neighboring town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where food is scarce despite limited food distributions. ‘humanitarian aid.
Gaza is “hell on earth”, said Tuesday the director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, visiting the territory.
“Back in Gaza, a tragedy that gets worse and worse. People are everywhere, living on the streets, lacking everything. They beg for security and an end to this hell on earth,” Philippe Lazzarini said on the social network X.
In the north of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas Health Ministry said the army launched an attack on the Kamal Adwan hospital on Tuesday, after having “besieged and bombarded” it for several days.
Several hospitals in Gaza have been caught up in fighting since the start of the war, with Israel accusing Hamas of having installed infrastructure there and thus using civilians as “human shields”.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, more than 18,200 people were killed in the Gaza Strip, the vast majority women and under-18s, by Israeli bombardments triggered by the Islamist movement’s bloody attack launched against Israel on October 7.
In Israel, this attack left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, according to the authorities.
“Stop the bombings”
In southern Gaza, several deadly strikes again targeted Khan Younes and Rafah on Tuesday, according to images and testimonies collected by AFP.
In Rafah, survivors were searching the ruins, with their bare hands or using shovels, in the Zorob district, after a nighttime strike which dug a crater several meters deep. A little girl was able to save a few notebooks. All around, the houses are gutted.
“There are still people under the rubble. The Civil Defense is helping us, but we do not have enough equipment to take them out,” testified Abu Jazar, a 23-year-old man, imploring: “We call on the Arab world and the whole world to put pressure on stop the bombing of Gaza.
At al-Najjer hospital in Rafah, Hani Abu Jamea weeping carries the body wrapped in a white shroud of her little daughter, Sidal, killed by a shrapnel while sleeping in a tent. Around him, ten bodies are lined up.
“There was a very, very strong bombardment, three times. […] In the morning, I discovered that she had been killed,” the man told AFP.
In response to the October 7 attack, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power since 2007 in Gaza, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel in particular.
In parallel with its campaign of devastating air strikes, the army has been leading a ground offensive against Hamas since October 27, initially concentrated in the north and then extended to the entire territory.
The army said Tuesday that 105 soldiers had died since the start of ground fighting in Gaza, including 13 killed by “friendly fire.”
A seven-day truce, from November 24 to 1er December, resulted in the release of 105 hostages held by Hamas and affiliated groups, while 137 hostages remain held in the Gaza Strip.
A “breaking point”
On Tuesday, on the Israeli side of the border, an AFP team heard continuous artillery fire and several strikes on Gaza City, in the north of the small territory.
Hamas also reported fighting in central Gaza.
The army said it discovered, during a raid on a Hamas post, “around 250 rockets, shells and rocket launchers ready for use, as well as other weapons and military equipment.” A weapons factory containing “hundreds of grenades and rockets” was also discovered.
“Hamas is at its breaking point, the Israeli army is retaking its last strongholds,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared Monday evening.
“The fact that people are surrendering […] comes to accelerate our success and that is what we want: to move forward quickly,” the army chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, declared in Khan Younes, specifying that the army was “intensifying” its operations. in the south while consolidating its presence in the north.
“No hygiene, no water”
According to the UN, more than half of the homes have been destroyed or damaged by the war in the Gaza Strip, where 1.9 million people have been displaced, or 85% of the population.
Rafah transformed into a gigantic camp where hundreds of tents were hastily set up with pieces of wood, plastic sheeting and sheets.
“There is no hygiene, no food, no water… We do not have access to sanitary napkins, we have to use rags,” laments an 18-year-old woman, Samar Shalhoub.
Since October 9, Israel has imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip. Arrivals from Egypt of food, medicine and fuel remain very insufficient according to the UN, and aid cannot be transported beyond Rafah, access to the north being cut off by the fighting.
The UN and aid organizations have urged Israel, which controls the entry of international aid, to let more trucks through.
On Monday, the army announced the establishment of an additional checkpoint for the inspection of trucks before their entry into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, which it said should “double” the quantity of aid entering Palestinian territory.
On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly is due to hold a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza following the US veto on Friday of a Security Council resolution that called for a “humanitarian ceasefire”.
The Assembly, whose resolutions are not binding, could again vote on a resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and the “immediate and unconditional” release of all the hostages.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, is opposed to a ceasefire, saying it would leave Hamas in control of Gaza.
The war in Gaza continues to increase tensions in the region. On Tuesday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile strike in the Red Sea that hit a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker the day before, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.