01/24/2024 11:35 pm (current 01/24/2024 11:40 pm)
There is no end to the fighting in sight ©APA/AFP
A UN camp with Palestinian refugees was attacked in the south of the Gaza Strip. “The fighting in Khan Younis is reaching a peak. (…) The UNRWA camp with tens of thousands of people has just been hit – buildings are burning and there are many victims,” wrote Thomas White, director of UN Relief. and Palestinian Works Agency (UNRWA) on Wednesday in X. Two tank shells hit a UNRWA training center where 800 people sought refuge.
White did not write who he believed attacked the facility. The Israeli military has denied responsibility for an attack on a UN camp housing Palestinian refugees in the southern Gaza Strip. An investigation into operational systems ruled out that the army had reached the center of Khan Yunis, it was said on Wednesday night. It is now being examined whether the attack was the result of bombings by radical Islamist Hamas.
According to eyewitness accounts, thousands of Palestinians are fleeing because of the fighting. According to information on Wednesday, many fled in cars or on foot towards the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. Cairo accused Israel of delaying the provision of international aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel has hit back at media reports of a possible ceasefire.
“Israel will not give up on destroying Hamas,” said government spokeswoman Ilana Stein, referring to the declared aim of the war. All hostages must return; Gaza must not continue to pose a threat to Israel's security. “There will be no ceasefire.” Some media outlets had previously reported that Israel could suspend hostilities in exchange for the release of the hostages.
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will be open 24 hours a day, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said. But Israel is making the process difficult with its procedures for importing goods. “In this way, they are exerting pressure on the issue of the release of the hostages.”
The UN emergency relief office, OCHA, said overnight that evacuation calls from the Israeli army affected an area of about four square kilometers in Khan Younis. There are around 88,000 residents in the region, in addition to around 425,000 internally displaced people who have sought protection in 24 schools and other facilities. Three hospitals with a total capacity of 625 beds were also affected.
Around 18,000 internally displaced people sought protection at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis alone. According to UN estimates, 1.7 million of the 2.2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip became internally displaced people as a result of the war and had to leave their homes.
Khan Younis is considered a stronghold of Islamic Hamas. Israel suspects the leadership of the terrorist organization, as well as Israeli hostages, of being in the tunnel network in the area. The Israeli army said it surrounded the hotly contested city on Tuesday. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday night that more than 100 terrorists had been “eliminated” in the west of the city.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army said it continued to intensify operations against Hamas in Khan Younis. “Troops killed many terrorist cells with snipers, tanks and aerial fire,” the statement said. Weapons were also found during attacks in the city.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, at least 25,700 people have been killed and around 63,740 injured since the war began on October 7. According to reports, at least 210 Palestinians have been killed and more than 380 injured in the last 24 hours alone. The numbers can hardly be independently verified.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in southern Israel on October 7. They murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 people.