Fighters flee to the south
Israel: Hamas has “lost control in Gaza”
November 13, 2023, 9:52 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
The Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas has “lost control” in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Media reports that the troops have suffered “major blows” and that several battalions are leaderless and no longer able to fight.
Five weeks after the start of the Gaza war, the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas has lost “control in Gaza,” in the words of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Hamas fighters are fleeing to the south of the Palestinian territory and civilians are looting Hamas bases, Gallant said in a video broadcast by Israeli television stations.
Meanwhile, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned of a complete collapse in humanitarian supplies to Gazans within two days due to a lack of fuel. The civilian population “no longer trusts the government” of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Gallant said. He did not provide any evidence for his statements.
Israeli media, citing army representatives, reported that the Hamas troops, which were divided into 24 battalions before the start of the war, had suffered “major blows” in the past five weeks, and that several battalions were leaderless after the death of their commanders and were no longer fully capable of fighting.
“In the next 48 hours everything will stop, there is nothing we can do,” said UNRWA chief in the Gaza Strip, Thomas White. In the morning, two drinking water supply subcontractors had to stop working due to a lack of fuel, meaning 200,000 people would no longer have drinking water. A doctor working for the aid organization Doctors Without Borders reported “inhumane” conditions at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, the largest clinic in the Palestinian territory.
“The situation is very bad, it is inhumane,” the surgeon wrote in online media. “We have no electricity. There is no more water or food in the hospital,” said the unnamed doctor. In addition to around 600 patients, thousands of people have sought refuge from the fighting in the clinic. Witnesses reported fierce fighting around the huge hospital complex, with Israeli tanks parked just a few meters from the entrance.
“Sick people on the streets without treatment”
Israel accuses Hamas of setting up its military headquarters hidden beneath the hospital, something the Islamist organization denies. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the Al-Kuds Hospital also had to stop working because there was no more fuel for the generators. A representative of the Hamas authorities also said that the “forced evacuation of the Al-Nasr and Al-Rantissi children’s hospitals” had resulted in “the sick being left on the streets without treatment.”
The Israeli army, meanwhile, said its soldiers would “continue to carry out raids and target terrorist infrastructure housed in government buildings and among the civilian population,” including “schools, universities, mosques.” In the Abu Bakr Mosque, soldiers found “a large amount of explosives” as well as weapons, military equipment and Hamas operational plans.