Fierce fighting continues Thursday in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and the Israeli army, which took the large city of Khan Younes where it is tracking down the architect of the bloody October 7 attack against Israel. Predicting a “total collapse of law and order soon” in Gaza, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres once again called for a humanitarian ceasefire, drawing a scathing refusal from Israel. The Israeli government, however, authorized the delivery of a “minimal supplement” of fuel to Gaza to avoid a “humanitarian collapse” and epidemics.
Information to remember:
- Hamas announces a new death toll this Thursday of 17,177 dead in the Gaza Strip
- The Israeli army and Hamas are engaged in fierce fighting in the large city of Khan Younes, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
- Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, “Sinouar, is hiding underground,” assures Israel
- Antonio Guterres warns of ‘total collapse of law and order soon’ in Gaza
- Israel agrees to ‘minimal’ fuel delivery for Gaza
Joe Biden spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu about “the absolute need to protect civilians
US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that it is essential to protect civilians as heavy urban fighting rages in and around Gaza’s largest cities, the White House said.
“The president emphasized the absolute need to protect civilians and separate the civilian population from Hamas, including through corridors allowing people to move safely out of demarcated combat zones,” the White House said in a press release.
Israel expands its ground operations
Engaged since October 27 in a ground offensive against Hamas in the north of Gaza, in parallel with its campaign of massive air strikes, Israel has extended its ground operations to the entire small, overpopulated Palestinian territory. The civilian population is being pushed to move to an increasingly cramped area in Rafah, along the Egyptian border. In Khan Younes, the largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip, Israeli infantrymen, armored vehicles and bulldozers reached the city center, according to witnesses. The Israeli army claimed Wednesday evening to have “pierced the defensive lines” of Hamas, “eliminated a number of terrorists” and destroyed around “30 tunnel entrances”.
As night fell on Wednesday, thick clouds of black smoke and flames continued to rise from Gaza. During the day, trails drawn by rockets fired towards Israel from Rafah, in the south of the small Palestinian territory, also dotted the sky.
Hamas announces new death toll of 17,177
Violent fighting rages Thursday in and around the largest cities in the Gaza Strip, as the war between the Israeli army and Hamas enters its third month. The death toll, in the small, overpopulated Palestinian territory where landscapes of ruins extend, reached 17,177 people, 70% of them women and those under 18 years old. Hamas said that 350 people had died in the last 24 hours, while Israeli military operations, launched in northern Gaza after the bloody attack on October 7, now extend to the entire small, overpopulated territory.
The Israeli army is tightening its grip around the main urban centers, exactly two months after the unprecedented attack perpetrated by Hamas from the Gaza Strip which left 1,200 dead in Israel, mainly civilians, and 138 hostages remain. Gaza out of around 240 kidnapped and taken to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Dozens of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles entered Gaza’s Old City. In Khan Younes, the largest city in the south of the Palestinian territory, the army says it has “killed Hamas terrorists and struck dozens of terrorist targets”. It deplores a total of 87 soldiers killed since the start of its offensive in Gaza. Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by Israel but also the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, among others, released videos on Wednesday evening, claiming to have fired a salvo of rockets from the Gaza Strip towards of Israel and showing furious street fighting. More than 11,000 rockets have been launched towards Israel from the Gaza Strip in two months of conflict, most of them intercepted.
Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, “Sinouar, is hiding underground,” assures Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces were “surrounding the house of (Yahya) Sinouar”, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Khan Yunis. “Sinouar is hiding underground,” said Daniel Hagari, an army spokesperson, referring to Hamas tunnels under Gaza. Yahya Sinouar, 61 years old, 23 of whom spent in Israeli prisons, is considered the architect of the unprecedented attack of October 7: that day, hundreds of Hamas commandos infiltrated into Israel from Gaza killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians according to Israeli authorities, and took some 240 people hostage.
According to the Israeli government, 138 hostages are still being held in Gaza, after the release at the end of November as part of a seven-day truce of 105 people kidnapped, including 80 in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Yahya Sinouar has not been seen publicly in Gaza since October 7. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in combat on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, according to the army.
The Israeli army also announced the discovery in the north of the territory, “in the heart of the civilian population”, near a clinic and a school, “a very important weapons depot” seeing it as a ” further evidence” of Hamas’ use of “human shields”. She also said she had killed “half of the commanders” of Hamas to date. On its Telegram channel, the terrorist movement claimed that its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, “is fighting violently against the occupying forces on all lines of incursion in the Gaza Strip.”
“Disastrous” humanitarian conditions, denounces the UN
“The whole city is suffering destruction and incessant bombing. Many people arrive from the north in disastrous conditions, homeless, looking for their children,” Hassan Al-Qadi, a resident of Khan Younes, told AFP. moved further south to Rafah, a border town with Egypt. Faced with the rising toll, the lack of food and the thousands of displaced people finding themselves completely destitute, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned of a “total collapse of public order soon” in Gaza.
Antonio Guterres used for the first time in his mandate a rare procedure, article 99 of the United Nations Charter, which allows him to “draw the attention” of the Security Council to a file which “could endanger the maintenance of international peace and security. According to several diplomats, the Security Council should meet on Friday to consider this appeal. “Guterres’ mandate is a danger for world peace,” replied the head of Israeli diplomacy Eli Cohen on X (ex-Twitter), believing that the activation of article 99 and the call for a cease -the fire “constitutes support for the terrorist organization Hamas”.
“Minimum” fuel delivery
Israel has promised to destroy Hamas in power in Gaza since 2007, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel. The Israeli government, however, approved on Wednesday a “minimum delivery of fuel – necessary to avoid a humanitarian collapse and the appearance of epidemics – in the south of the Gaza Strip”, the Prime Minister’s office announced on X. The quantity delivered will be “determined gradually” depending on the humanitarian situation, he added.
The Israeli announcement comes two days after their main ally, the United States, called for more fuel to enter Gaza. According to the UN, 1.9 million people, or around 85% of the population, have been displaced by the war in the Gaza Strip where more than half of the homes are destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombings. The UN has calculated that 30% of the territory now falls under daily Israeli evacuation orders, and considers it “impossible” to set up secure zones to accommodate civilians fleeing the fighting.