DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces fought Hamas militants across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in fierce battles that prevented the distribution of vital aid across much of the territory and caused some of the devastation and mass displacement in the north and south.
As the focus of the ground offensive shifts to the Gaza Strip and the second-largest city of Khan Younis, the area where Palestinians can seek safety continues to shrink, pushing back large numbers of people, many of whom are forced to flee multiple times, towards the sealed border with Egypt.
On the Gaza side of the border, makeshift shelters and family homes are already overcrowded and many are sleeping on the streets. On the other hand, thousands of Egyptian troops are deployed to prevent a mass influx of refugees that Egypt says would undermine its decades-old peace treaty with Israel.
According to the United Nations, around 1.87 million people – over 80% of the population – have already fled their homes. Many Palestinians fear that they will not be allowed to return.
Much of the north, including large parts of Gaza City, has been completely destroyed, and Palestinians fear the rest of the Gaza Strip could suffer a similar fate as Israel seeks to crush Hamas, which operates in the area it controls Ruled for 16 years, is deeply rooted.
Israel has vowed to fight on, saying it can no longer accept a Hamas military presence in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured about 240 men, women and children in that attack.
An estimated 138 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip after more than 100 were released during a ceasefire last week. Their plight and reports of widespread rape and other atrocities committed during the rampage have heightened Israeli outrage and further galvanized support for the war.
Pushed to the margins
The war has been an unprecedented catastrophe for Palestinian civilians, dwarfing all four previous wars between Israel and Hamas, and their suffering will only worsen as the offensive continues.
Over the past three days, the distribution of aid – mainly flour and water – has been possible only in and around Rafah on the border with Egypt due to fighting and road closures by Israeli forces, the United Nations Humanitarian Office said.
Hamza Abu Mustafa, a teacher who lives near a school in Rafah and hosts three families himself, said: “The situation is extremely dire.”
“You find displaced people on the streets, in schools, in mosques, in hospitals… everywhere.”
A Palestinian woman who identified herself as Umm Ahmed said the harsh conditions and limited access to toilets were particularly difficult for pregnant or menstruating women. Some have asked on social media about menstrual pads, which are becoming increasingly difficult to find.
“For women and girls, the suffering is twice as great,” said Umm Ahmed. “It’s more humiliation.”
Further north, the humanitarian crisis becomes even worse.
Nawraz Abu Libdeh, who is seeking refuge in Khan Younis after being displaced six times, said the situation in UN shelters there was “beyond catastrophic” and people were fighting over food. “The Hunger War has begun,” he said. “This is the worst of all wars.”
In downtown Deir al-Balah, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said fuel and medicine supplies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital had reached “critically low levels.” It said up to 200 wounded people had been brought in every day since December 1, when a week-long ceasefire expired.
“Without electricity, ventilators would no longer work, blood donations would have to stop, sterilization of surgical instruments would be impossible,” said Marie-Aure Perreaut Revial, emergency coordinator for the aid group in Gaza. She said they also lack surgical supplies and equipment to stabilize broken bones.
Gaza has been without power since the first week of the war, and Israel has sharply restricted fuel imports, forcing several hospitals to close because they cannot run emergency generators.
NO END IN SIGHT
The war has killed more than 16,200 people in Gaza – most of them women and children – and injured more than 42,000, the territory’s health ministry said late Tuesday. It was said many were also trapped under rubble.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. The overall tally is consistent with a figure released this week by the Israeli military that said about 5,000 of the dead were militants, without saying how it arrived at that figure.
The military said 88 of its soldiers were killed in the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
It accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields when the militants operate in residential areas. However, Israel has not provided detailed information about individual attacks, some of which have leveled entire city blocks.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that its troops were “in the heart” of Khan Younis, after what it called the “most intense day” of fighting since the ground operation began five weeks ago, with heavy fighting also in the north.
Hamas’ continued ability to fight in areas that Israel invaded with overwhelming force weeks ago suggests that eradicating the group without further mass casualties and displacement – as Israel’s main ally the United States has called for – will prove difficult could prove.
Even after weeks of bombing, Yehya Sinwar, Hamas’ top leader in Gaza, whose whereabouts are unknown, managed to hold complex ceasefire negotiations last week and organize the release of scores of hostages. Palestinian militants have also continued firing rockets at Israel.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press reporter Najib Jobain contributed from Rafah, Gaza.
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Complete AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.