Gaza Strip Emergency Services and Medical Supplies are Under the Pressure of the United States, the Palestinian Red Crescent Societies, and the World Health Organization
In addition, two diesel fuel tankers were sent, a COGAT spokesperson said. The fuel is “designated for the operation of vital infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,” the spokesperson said.
180 aid trucks carrying food, water, shelter equipment, and medical supplies were sent via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, according to Israel’s COGAT.
“We appeal to Israel to withdraw the order, and take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities,” wrote Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X.
Meanwhile, the director-general of the World Health Organization said that Israel’s military had notified the WHO of the need to “remove our supplies from our medical warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours, as ground operations will put it beyond use.”
The PRCS lost contact with its operations room in Gaza because of a telecommunications problem. It expressed concern for the safety of its teams in Gaza because of the ongoing and intense Israeli airstrikes and worried that it would not be able to provide emergency services because of a lack of communications.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Societies (PRCS) on Tuesday said Israeli tanks had targeted “the vicinity area of two PRCS ambulances,” as the injured and dead were being transported. There was an attack near the city of Deir al Balah. The ambulances were damaged, and one medic was lightly injured.
According to Gaza health officials, more than 15000 people have been killed in the fighting and almost 3 quarters of the population has been homeless. International pressure from the death and suffering inflicted on Gazans has brought pressure on Israel to protect Palestinian civilians.
There is a rapid increase in the number of civilians killed. “Civilians, including men, women, children, older persons, the sick and people with disabilities are the most to suffer,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Monday.
The heightened Israeli bombardment came as Israel has been under pressure from the U.S. to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza and international relief groups said they were finding it increasingly difficult to distribute aid to refugees from the fighting.
Israel’s air force hit 250 targets in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, and ground troops continue to find and destroy weapons, underground shafts, explosives and other terrorist infrastructures, the IDF stated in a post on X.
The statement marked the first time that Israel had acknowledged that ground forces were engaged in and around Khan Younis. Israel released video it said showed soldiers operating in northern Gaza.
The level of human suffering is intolerable. The resumption of the military operation and its expansion further in southern Gaza is repeating horrors from past weeks,” it said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Israel risks “strategic defeat” if it does not protect Palestinians in Gaza, according to a speech delivered last week by the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Austin said that if you drive the civilians into the enemy’s arms, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.
Halevi said that they were asked a lot about the destruction in Gaza. “All our forces find weapons in almost every house, terrorists are located in many houses, and we fight them,” he said.
“These things require the use of a wide range of fire, both to damage the enemy and, of course, to protect our forces. Halevi said that they operate powerfully while still going to try to minimize harm to civilians.
Israel’s heaviest fighting since the beginning of the Gaza assault: The case for Khan Younis, the southernmost Hamas stronghold
Brian Carter of Critical Threats Project told NPR that Israel has not been making fast progress on the ground.
After being held for several weeks in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with some of the hostages that had been released in a cease-fire.
Released hostages castigated the Israeli government officials for claiming to have intelligence on Hamas locations yet bombing indiscriminately. They said during captivity that they were more afraid of Israeli bombs.
NPR’s Scott Neuman and Eleanor Beardsley reported from Tel Aviv and Brian Mann from Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The producer from NPR gave a piece from the Gaza Strip.
He said the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday were taking part “in the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation, in terms of terrorists killed, the number of firefights, and the use of firepower from the land and air.”
“We are in the heart of Jabaliya, in the heart of Shujaiya, and now also in the heart of Khan Younis,” the head of Israel’s Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman said at a news briefing on Tuesday. There is a major refugee camp located in Gaza’s north. Khan Younis, considered a Hamas stronghold, is located toward the south end of the Strip.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Some of the heaviest fighting since the start of Israel’s air-and-ground assault on Gaza more than two months ago was taking place Wednesday in Khan Younis, with artillery shelling and gunfire echoing through the Palestinian territory’s second-largest city.