Palestinian desperation grows amid urban battles between Israel and Hamas

Desperation grew Thursday among Palestinians, who lack food and water supplies, as Israeli forces fought fierce urban battles with Hamas militants. The attacks on the southern Gaza city of Rafah spread fear in one of the last places where civilians could seek refuge.

United Nations officials say there are no longer safe places in Gaza almost a week after Israel expanded its offensive into the southern half of the territory. Heavy fighting in and around the city of Khan Younis has displaced tens of thousands of people and disrupted aid delivery to most of Gaza. More than 80% of the territory’s population has fled their homes.

Two months after the war began, the devastating offensive has caused renewed international alarm. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used a rarely exercised power to warn the Security Council of an imminent “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to demand a ceasefire.

Gutteres explicitly cited Article 99 of the UN Charter, which allows the Secretary-General to bring to the Council’s attention any matter he believes threatens international peace and security. The power has only been used a handful of times in the history of the world organization.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, is likely to block any UN efforts to stop the fighting. Still, American concern about the devastation was growing.

Before the offensive in the south, US officials told Israel to limit civilian deaths and displacement, stressing that too many Palestinians died when it devastated much of Gaza City and the north.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said casualties are still too high during a call with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, according to a senior State Department official.

Blinken told Dermer that Israel must redouble its efforts to reduce the number of casualties and do more to allow humanitarian aid access to Gaza. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomatic discussion, did not release Dermer’s response.

Israel maintains it must crush Hamas’s military capabilities and remove it from power after the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

In photographs and videos released Thursday, at least 100 Palestinian men are seen sitting in rows on a street in northern Gaza, wearing their underwear and with their heads bowed as they are guarded by Israeli soldiers. The Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news outlet reported that its correspondent Diaa Al-Kahlout was among those detained and had been taken to an unknown location.

The images were the first to show these types of arrests in the war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli troops have detained and interrogated hundreds of people in Gaza suspected of having links to militants.

In a sign of growing desperation, thousands of Palestinians were crushed Thursday waiting to receive aid at a United Nations distribution center in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, with the crowds growing.

Residents said the scene of chaos had become a common sight in Deir al-Balah, where what little humanitarian aid does arrive is met by hordes of hungry and exhausted families taking shelter in UN schools or with relatives.

Rami Ashour, one of those waiting Thursday morning, said he left the scene when it seemed impossible that his turn to receive a ration of flour would come.

Deir al-Balah is caught between ground fighting in northern Gaza and Khan Younis to the south, but continues to be shelled. Another 115 bodies were brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the past 24 hours, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders said.

“The hospital is full, the morgue is full”, lamented the group on the social network X, formerly Twitter.

Only a few trucks have managed to reach central Gaza in recent days, as fighting has largely prevented aid groups from distributing supplies beyond the Rafah area, in the far south of Gaza along the border with Egypt. according to the United Nations.