Israel bombs the town of Khan Younis, hours after the UN court ordered it to do so to protect civilians
Thousands of civilians remain trapped between shelling and fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza this Saturday, just a day after the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to avoid genocide and do more to protect the Palestinian population . The Jewish State Army's main center of operations was Khan Yunis, the largest city in southern Gaza, whose two main hospitals are barely functioning amid attacks and demands from thousands of affected people. According to several witnesses to the France Presse agency, the city was once again the target of night bombings.
Israeli infantry troops, tanks and aircraft say they have killed 11 Hamas militants in recent hours in attacks on Khan Younis, home to about 88,000 residents and about 425,000 displaced people who have fled the north because of the fighting suffering in the South. According to a statement from the Israeli army, members of the Islamist militia tried to plant explosives near their soldiers and also attacked them with assault rifles and grenade launchers. In a thread on social media
The attacks came after the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled on Friday that Israel must prevent possible acts of “genocide” in its war against Hamas, the Islamist movement that de facto rules Gaza. However, the court did not call for an end to the fighting, but said in its ruling that Israel must provide “urgently needed” humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territories, where 85% of the nearly 2.4 million inhabitants live. They have become internally displaced because of the war.
The Israeli military offensive in the enclave began on October 7 after the incursion by Islamist commandos that resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of almost 250 people in southern Israel. Retaliation with incessant bombings and a ground invasion of Gaza has so far claimed 26,083 lives, mostly women, children and teenagers, according to the territory's health ministry.
Fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters has been raging around Khan Younis for days, and thousands of people have fled further south to Rafah, a town on the border with Egypt. In fact, the city has been the epicenter of the Jewish state's army operations for weeks. At Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the city's largest, Doctors Without Borders said surgical capacity was “almost non-existent.” “The few medical staff who remain in the hospital have to work with ever fewer materials,” complained Médecins Sans Frontières in a statement.
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has assured that on the social network. According to Tedros, who has called for a ceasefire, the Nasser hospital is “running out of food, fuel and supplies”. And Al-Amal Hospital, another of the few remaining medical facilities in Khan Younis, is under attack by tanks, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of digging tunnels under hospitals in the Gaza Strip and using those buildings as command centers. Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's UN ambassador in Geneva, this week accused the WHO of collaborating with Hamas, claiming the UN agency had ignored information provided by the Israelis about the Palestinian movement's “military use” of Gaza hospitals . Tedros, who denied the accusation, pointed out that such “false accusations” could endanger “our employees who risk their lives to help the vulnerable.” (agencies)