KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel bombed targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered the evacuation of more neighborhoods targeted for attacks, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others called for more Action was urged to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip a day after the ceasefire collapsed.
At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since fighting resumed on Friday morning following a week-long ceasefire with the ruling militant group Hamas, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Several houses were hit across Gaza on Saturday. Several casualties were reported in a strike that leveled a house on the outskirts of Gaza City.
Separately, the ministry announced that the total death toll in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7 has exceeded 15,200, a significant increase from the previous toll of more than 13,300 on November 20. The ministry stopped issuing daily updates on the total number of casualties on November 11 following war-related disruptions to connectivity and hospital operations.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but said Saturday that 70% of the dead were women and children. It said more than 40,000 people had been injured in the last two months.
With the end of the temporary ceasefire, Israel has been urged by the United States, its closest ally, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
The call came after a devastating air and ground offensive devastated large areas of northern Gaza in the first weeks of the war, killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing hundreds of thousands. About two million Palestinians, almost the entire population of Gaza, currently live in the southern half of the territory.
It was not clear whether the Israeli military would heed appeals to spare civilians. The military said Saturday that it had struck more than 400 Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, using airstrikes and shelling from tanks and Navy attack helicopters. It included more than 50 attacks in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of the Gaza Strip.
At least nine people, including three children, were killed in an attack on a house in the southern city of Deir al-Balah, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken. The hospital also received seven bodies of other people killed in nighttime airstrikes, including two children.
In the northern Gaza Strip, an airstrike destroyed a residential building housing displaced families in the Jabaliya urban refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City. Dozens of people were killed or injured in the attack on the multi-story building, said residents Hamza Obeid and Amal Radwan.
“There was a loud bang, then the building turned into a pile of rubble,” Obeid said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they had fired rockets into southern Israel. Sirens were heard in communities near Gaza, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
In the clearest sign yet that a return to negotiations for further ceasefires was unlikely, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered negotiators to return to Israel.
As fighting resumed, the Israeli military released an online map that divided the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered plots and urged residents to familiarize themselves with the number of their location ahead of evacuation warnings.
On Saturday, the military used the map for the first time, listing more than two dozen plot numbers in areas around Gaza City to the north and east of Khan Younis. In addition, the military dropped leaflets with evacuation orders over towns east of Khan Younis.
Palestinians look at the destruction after the Israeli bombing in Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Friday, December 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
A resident of Khan Younis said a neighbor received a call from the army warning that houses in the area were being hit and everyone should leave. “We told them: ‘We have nothing here, why do you want to attack it?'” said resident Hikmat al-Qidra. They eventually left and al-Qidra said the house was destroyed.
The maps and leaflets caused panic and confusion, particularly in the crowded South. Since they cannot reach northern Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only means of escape is to move within the 220 square kilometer area.
“There is no place to go,” said Emad Hajar, who fled the north to Khan Younis a month ago with his wife and three children. “They drove us out of the north, and now they’re pushing us to leave the south.”
Amal Radwan, who sought refuge in the Jabaliya urban refugee camp in northern Gaza, said she was unaware of such a map, adding that she and many others were unable to leave the camp because of the relentless bombardment. “Here is death and there is death,” she said.
Israel says it has targeted Hamas operatives, blaming the militants for civilian casualties and accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods. It claims to have killed thousands of militants without providing evidence. According to Israel, 77 of its soldiers were killed in the ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Also on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received aid trucks through the Rafah border crossing, the first convoy since fighting resumed. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Border Crossing Authority, said 50 trucks were scheduled to enter Gaza, but there were no tankers among them.
“The current conditions do not allow for meaningful humanitarian assistance and I fear that this will spell disaster for the civilian population,” Pascal Hundt, responsible for operations in Gaza at the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, said in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that the United States would “under no circumstances” allow the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza the West Bank, the siege of Gaza or redrawing its borders, according to a US summary of the meeting.
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are taken to a hospital in Khan Younis, Friday, December 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
According to the White House, Harris was expected to make proposals with regional leaders to “put Palestinian voices at the center” when planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict. President Joe Biden’s administration has emphasized the need for an eventual two-state solution with the coexistence of Israel and a Palestinian state.
The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured about 240 people in southern Israel.
The renewed hostilities have heightened concerns about 136 hostages who the Israeli military says are still being held by Hamas and other militants, after 105 were released during the ceasefire.
For the families of the remaining hostages, the failure of the ceasefire was a blow to hopes that their loved ones could emerge next. A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.
During the ceasefire, Israel freed 240 Palestinians from its prisons. Most of those released by both sides were women and children.
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Magdy reported from Cairo, Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Palestinians look at the destruction after the Israeli bombing in Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Friday, December 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
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Complete AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war