The Israeli army is expanding its operations to Khan Yunis, the capital in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. According to local sources, the military today distributed leaflets in Arabic to the population informing them that the southern part of the city is now a war zone. Residents are ordered to immediately move further south to the nearby town of Rafah. The districts protected from attacks are Tel Sultan, Shabura and a-Zuhur. To make matters worse, the forced migration of the population is made more difficult by the blockage of telephone and Internet communications that has been ongoing for five days.
The army had previously announced that elite Israeli forces had occupied the offices of several local Hamas commanders in the southern sector of Khan Yunis. Weapons, ammunition, hand grenades and surveillance cameras were found inside, it said.
In addition, Israel says it discovered and destroyed a “strategic tunnel” belonging to Hamas that allowed its militants to move from the northern part of the Gaza Strip to the southern part, despite the heavy presence of Israeli forces on the surface. The tunnel – the military spokesman reported – was dug 9 meters deep under the Sallah-a-din, the main artery that crosses the Gaza Strip along its length. The tunnel in question, hundreds of meters long, ran under the Wadi Gaza, the valley that the Israeli army cited as the dividing line between the northern part of the Gaza Strip and the southern part. This tunnel has now been destroyed by technical units.
The tunnel network in the Gaza Strip is said to be much larger than previously thought: Israeli officials now estimate it extends to 560 to 720 kilometers. This was reported by the website Ynet, which cites military sources that updated the data. Last December there was talk of an extension of around 400 kilometers.
The same sources said after field operations in Gaza that there are about 5,700 entrances allowing access. The IDF intelligence department estimated that there are around 160 kilometers of tunnels in Khan Yunis alone. Hamas' total spending since 2005 has been $3 million.
In general, the same sources continued, there are two types of tunnels: one for senior commanders, simpler and deeper, the other for agents, simpler and shallower. According to Ynet, the army said it found documents including lists of families who hosted tunnel mouths in their private homes.
Video Gaza, smoke over Khan Yunis after new attacks
About fifty rockets were fired today from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the Israeli town of Netivot, 15 kilometers away. According to military radio, several missiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense systems, but one still exploded in the city, destroying a store. No casualties were reported.
Video Gaza: Hamas fighters fire mortar shells
Israel has announced the death of another soldier killed in combat in the southern Gaza Strip. The military spokesman announced this and added that it was the reservist Nitzan Schessler (21 years old). The number of soldiers killed since the ground operation began is now 189.
Video Gaza, footage of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip
Al Jazeera bureau chief brought to Qatar
A Qatari military plane took off from Egypt's Al-Arish airport carrying Wael Al-Dahdouh, head of the Gaza bureau of Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, who is scheduled to receive medical treatment in Qatar. An Egyptian security source told ANSA without providing details about what the journalist, who lost much of his family in the war, was suffering from.
The source said that his transfer to the Qatari embassy in Cairo was initially expected, but surprisingly the plane from Qatar arrived in Al Arish to take him directly to Doha. After consultations between Egyptian and Qatari security officials, it was agreed that Al-Dahdouh would do so
was immediately taken to Qatar.
The Egyptian authorities had managed to allow Al-Dahdouh, known for having lost a large part of his family in the Israeli bombings, to enter their territory: on October 26, he learned during a live broadcast that a dozen of his family members , including nine children, had died during one
Attack in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. His son Hamza Al Dahdouh, linked to jihad according to Israel, was killed on the 7th
last January in Khan Yunis
Humanitarian aid, the Egyptian foreign minister receives the UN coordinator
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry met with the UN Chief Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and Reconstruction in Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, with whom he agreed on the need to increase the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip thanks to a new aid mechanism developed by the Security Council, which Egypt is called upon to implement.
It was Kaag's first visit to the region after taking on this task by decision of the Security Council: He is tasked with facilitating, coordinating and monitoring the introduction of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
“The parties – said the spokesman for the ministry, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid – emphasized in their discussions the need to adequately increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza to meet the urgent needs of the population of the sector and the continuation of the service Facilities, hospitals and aid organizations to provide their services to the Palestinians.
Egypt, Shukry said, is not shirking its responsibilities in this regard and has assured that it will continue to play its role to the best of its ability and “ensure the full implementation of the provisions of the Security Council resolution, including the forthcoming implementation of a new UN mechanism
to speed up the delivery of aid. A responsibility that Israel must also respond to, he said, “to facilitate and not hinder the transport of goods.”
Today, a plane from Central Africa landed at Al-Arish International Airport in North Sinai with several tons of humanitarian and relief supplies to support the people of Gaza. The cargo was taken over for transport by the Red Crescent
stripes. From the Rafah border crossing, 40 trucks with goods and 6 tankers with fuel entered the Gaza Strip.
Israel: “Noa is alive, we did not attack the house with the hostages”
The Israeli military believes that Noa Argamani, the 26-year-old hostage in Gaza who appeared in three videos released by Hamas, is alive, the Times of Israel reports. Military spokesman Hagari said Hamas's claim that the military raided a building where three hostages, Itay, Yossi and Noa, were being held and killed the first two was false.
“Itay was not killed by us. That’s a lie,” Hagari said. “The building they were trapped in was not attacked.” “We don't strike when we know there are hostages. We have attacked targets near this location,” the families said of concerns about their fate.
The EU puts Sinwar on the terrorist list
The EU Council has decided to add Yahya Sinwar, the political leader of Hamas in Gaza, to the terror list. “The decision – it says in a statement – is part of the EU’s response to the threat posed by Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.” The sanctions against Sinwar come into force from today. The Hamas leader now faces having his funds and other financial assets frozen in European countries. Community operators are also prohibited from making funds and economic resources available to you.
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