Israeli forces with tanks today attacked the main city in the Gaza Strip from two directions and targeted the main road that connects it with the southern part of the enclave, witnesses said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
Israel has expanded its offensive, prompting new international calls to protect civilians in Gaza.
The Israeli military said it had struck more than 600 militant targets in the past few days and was expanding its ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
Only a few dozen aid trucks have reached the besieged enclave of 2.3 million people since war between Israel and Hamas broke out three weeks ago and public order has broken down as people stormed UN warehouses in search of food. Reuters points out.
Four UN aid distribution centers and one warehouse have been disabled, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced today.
“This is disaster on top of disaster. The need for health assistance is skyrocketing and our ability to meet that need is rapidly shrinking,” World Health Organization country chief Rick Brennan told Reuters, echoing international calls. for a ceasefire to allow for a larger humanitarian operation.
Israel renewed its warnings to civilians to move from northern Gaza to the south as it launched an offensive late Friday to hunt down Hamas fighters it says are hiding in a maze of tunnels beneath Gaza City.
Many Palestinians have stayed put for fear of becoming homeless like previous generations, as well as fears of Israeli airstrikes in the enclave’s south, Reuters noted.
Islamist fighters said they repelled an attempt by Israeli tanks to enter Gaza City from the east and were battling them along the border with Israel in northern Gaza.
“Our duty today is to fight and fight,” the radical Islamic Jihad group, which is fighting alongside Gaza’s ruling Hamas, said in a statement, adding that now was not the time for a ceasefire. .
“Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen. The Bible says there is a time for peace and a time for war. This it is time for war, a war for a common future,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Just as the US did not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a ceasefire with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7,” he added. .
The Israeli military said it had killed four prominent Hamas operatives. “Troops of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces – note ed.) killed dozens of terrorists who had barricaded themselves in buildings and tunnels and were trying to attack the military,” said an army summary.
Reuters notes that neither side has commented on the other’s statements.
Medical authorities in Gaza said today that three weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks have killed 8,306 people, including 3,457 minors.
2023-10-30 20:43:00
#Israeli #forces #tanks #attacked #main #city #Gaza #Strip #directions
