Israeli forces storm Khan Yunis, Gaza, and hospitals collapse

Israeli forces launched an assault on the main southern city on Tuesday. Gaza Stripwhere hospitals were inundated with dozens of Palestinian injuries and deaths.

In what appeared to be the biggest ground offensive since the truce broke last week, residents said Israeli tanks had entered eastern areas of Jan Yuniscrossing from the Israeli border fence and moving west.

Some took up positions inside the town of Bani Suhaila, on the eastern outskirts of Khan Yunis, while others continued advancing and stopped on the edge of a Qatar-funded development called Hamad City, according to residents.

The Israelis, who seized the northern half of Gaza last month before pausing during a week-long truce, say they are now expanding their ground campaign to the rest of the enclave to meet their goal of annihilating the Hamas militant group.

“Now we are moving forward with the second stage. A second stage that is going to be difficult militarily“government spokesman Eylon Levy told reporters at a briefing.

Israel is open to “constructive comments” on how to reduce harm to civilians, as long as the advice is consistent with its goal of destroying Hamas, he said.

At the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, the wounded arrived by ambulance, cars and a donkey cart, in what survivors described as an attack that hit a school that displaced people used as shelter.

Inside a room, almost every inch of the floor was occupied by the wounded, doctors ran from patient to patient while relatives cried.

A doctor carried the small, inert body of a dead child and placed it in a corner, his arms outstretched on the blood-stained tiles. On the floor next to him, surrounded by discarded bandages and rubber gloves, lay an injured boy and girl, their limbs tangled in the supports holding the tracks in their arms.

Two girls were being treated, still covered in dust from the collapse of the house that had buried their family.

“My parents are under the rubble,” one sobbed. “I love my mother, I love my mother, I love my family”.

Outside, several men carried corpses in white, bloody shrouds to take them to funerals. About a dozen bodies lay on the ground. They took five or six in a motorcycle cart.

Aisha al-Raqb, a 70-year-old woman, said her son Iyad was among the dead and extended a blood-stained hand.

“This is his blood. This is his precious blood. May Allah have mercy on his soul. My dear. I want to smell the smell of him, smell the smell of him, oh God, oh God”, he lamented.

Gaza Health Ministry spokeswoman Ashra al-Qidra said at least 43 bodies had already arrived at Nasser Hospital that morning, and dozens more were feared trapped under rubble or in unsafe locations for ambulances to retrieve. .

“The hospitals in the south of the Gaza Strip are completely overwhelmed, they cannot cope with the number and severity of injured people arriving at the hospitals.“, he claimed.

US calls for less damage to civilians

Washington has called on Israel, its close ally, to do more to reduce harm to civilians in the next phase of the Gaza war, which Israel launched in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters that leveled cities. , killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 hostages, according to Israel’s count.

Israel’s unprecedented bombing of the Gaza Strip has since driven 80% of its 2.3 million inhabitants from their homes, most of whom are now crowding in the southern areas, now in the line of fire.

According to Gaza health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations, more than 15,900 people have been confirmed dead, and thousands more are feared missing and buried under rubble. The Gaza Ministry of Health also reported 250 dead health workers.

Israel claims that the blame for the damage caused to civilians lies with Hamas fighters who operate among them, from underground tunnels that can only be destroyed with huge bombs. Hamas denies this.

Since the truce broke down, Israel has been posting a map online to tell Gazans which parts of the enclave they should evacuate. On Monday he indicated the eastern neighborhood of Khan Yunis, where hundreds of thousands of people live, many of whom fled on foot.

“What civilians need to do to stay safe is listen to the instructions that are coming out of our Twitter accounts, our website, and also look at the pamphlets that are being dropped in their areas.“Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters on Tuesday.

Gazans say they have nowhere safe left to go, and the remaining towns and shelters are already overflowing. Israel has continued to bomb areas it tells people to go to, including the city of Rafah, along the Egyptian border south of Khan Younis.

“The situation is getting worse with every hour“Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, told reporters via video connection from southern Gaza. “Shelling is intensifying everywhere, including here in the southern areas, Khan Younis and even in Rafah”.