Last updated on August 28th, 2024 at 06:18 am
Gaza Strip: The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday that the Israeli military operation in Khan Yunis has killed 70 people, injured over 200 people. The operation comes after a military warning that Israel would “forcefully operate” in the area.
This warning reached the eastern Khan Yunis sector of the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, forcing thousands of Palestinians to take flight. Israel’s military said the primary goal was to cut down rocket fire from the region that has shaken heavily in heavy fighting in the beginning of this year.
This latest incident comes exactly nine days after the health ministry reported that 92 people had been killed in a strike on Al-Mawasi, against a Hamas commander according to Israeli allegations. Israel has sworn to root out Hamas, conducting widespread military operations in areas it had previously declared free of militants.
Under pressure to negotiate a truce and hostage-release deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is en route to Washington to address the US Congress. More than nine months into the Gaza conflict sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, Netanyahu is to meet with US President Joe Biden who has called on him to agree to a ceasefire.
‘Enough!’
Orders to evacuate Al-Mawasi come just two months after the military instructed Palestinians to go there for their safety. The Gaza health ministry said, “Due to the Israeli occupation’s attacks and massacres in Khan Yunis governorate from the early hours of this morning until now, 70 people have been martyred and more than 200 wounded.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military did not comment on the reported casualties but released a statement saying its fighter jets and tanks “struck and eliminated terrorists in the area,” targeting over “30 terror infrastructure” sites in Khan Yunis; this included a weapons storage facility, observation posts, tunnel shafts, and structures used by Hamas militants.
Confronted with yet another displacement, Palestinians thronged the dusty streets of Khan Yunis with cars, carts, and on foot, carrying whatever few belongings they could. Hassan Qudayh described fleeing in “panic” with his family after an unexpected attack. “We were making breakfast for our children, feeling safe for a month, only to be stunned by shells, warning leaflets, and martyrs in the streets,” he told AFPTV.
‘Tired and Fed Up’
Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in 1,197 deaths, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli figures. The militants also seized 251 hostages, of whom 116 remain in Gaza, including 44 the Israeli military says are dead.
The retaliatory campaign by Israel in Gaza has killed over 39,000 people, most of them civilians, per the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, plunging the area into a serious humanitarian crisis. Yussef Abu Taimah of Al-Qarara in Khan Yunis said his family couldn’t find a place to settle in the humanitarian zone. “Even the sidewalks are full of people and tents. We are tired and fed up. Enough of this displacement and migration.”
Months of on-again, off-again negotiations over a truce and prisoner-hostage exchange have produced little progress. Netanyahu’s trip to Washington-where he is scheduled to address Congress on Wednesday-comes against the backdrop of unprecedented strains between Israel and the United States. He has pushed back against pressure from Biden for a truce that hard-right members of his coalition reject.
Biden-who only recently withdrew from the US presidential race-promised to find a solution during the remaining months of his term in office.
He is also set to meet US Vice-President Kamala Harris, who is being tipped to take over from Biden as the Democratic nominee. Washington is concerned at the backlash from voters as the civilian death toll in Gaza continues to mount, as anti-government protests and the pressure from hostage families persist in Israel.
Steven Cook, a Middle East specialist with the Council on Foreign Relations, said, “Never before has the atmosphere been so fraught.
The visit comes at a time when the Gaza conflict stokes regional violence. Over the weekend, there were more rounds of fire between Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Israeli military, keeping tensions high along the border.
