However, by his account, civilians should still be able to flee to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Hagari said. But he made it clear: “This is a one-way corridor to the south.” At night, air and ground attacks were expanded to include the densely populated coastal strip. “Tonight we are conducting an important operation,” Hagari said.
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, again fired rockets at Israeli cities on Sunday night. Warning sirens also sounded several times in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The military wing of Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the US and EU, claimed responsibility for the attacks on Telegram. According to initial findings, no one was injured, according to paramedics.
The number of UN staff killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to 79. Five staff have been killed in the past 48 hours, the UN Palestinian aid agency UNRWA said on Sunday. At least 24 other people were injured. Like most residents of the coastal strip, UN staff and their families were also displaced. “They continue to work tirelessly to provide humanitarian assistance.”
The Israeli army had previously announced that it continued to “eliminate terrorists in hand-to-hand combat” in the Gaza Strip and to attack the positions of radical Islamist Hamas from the air. In total, more than 2,500 “terrorist targets” have been bombed since ground troops began to be deployed in Palestinian territory around ten days ago.
Israel has recently intensified its ground offensive. In the northern Gaza Strip, the army said it had surrounded Gaza City. According to images from the Israeli army, tanks and armored excavators advanced to reinforce the siege around the city of Gaza.
The Israeli army’s stated objective is to completely destroy Hamas and its positions, some of which are hidden underground in a tunnel system. In total, the Israeli army claims to have attacked 12,000 targets in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war against Hamas. Israel began sending ground troops on October 27.
Hundreds of fighters from the radical Islamic organization attacked Israel on October 7 and committed indiscriminate atrocities, especially against civilians, including many women and children, in several cities and at a music festival. According to Israeli data, 1,400 people were killed and more than 240 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. Israel then declared war on Hamas, which is also classified as a terrorist organization in the US and EU.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said at least 45 people were killed in the bombing of the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central coastal strip on Saturday night, most of them women and children. An Israeli military spokesman said he was checking whether the Israeli army was deployed in the area at the time.
Islamic Hamas had also accused the Israeli army of bombing a UN-run school in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people. Thousands of refugees were housed at Al-Fakhura school. Israel accuses Hamas of using refugee camps, schools and hospitals as hiding places.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 9,770 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory, including 4,800 children, since Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip began about a month ago. This information cannot be independently verified.
So far, Israel has rejected all calls for a ceasefire, especially from Arab countries. However, it promised temporary ceasefires in certain areas, including again on Sunday, to allow civilians to escape from the northern Gaza Strip towards the south. According to US data, there are still at least 350,000 civilians in Gaza city.
The Israeli army’s stated objective is to completely destroy Hamas and its positions, some of which are hidden underground in a tunnel system. Hundreds of fighters from the Palestinian Organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, attacked Israel on October 7 and committed atrocities, especially against civilians, including many women and children, in several cities and at a music festival.
Hamas has since suspended the evacuation of foreigners and people with dual citizenship from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. The reason was Israel’s refusal to allow injured Palestinians to be taken to Egyptian hospitals, a border administration representative said. According to US information, Hamas attempted to smuggle its own fighters out of the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing.