Israeli forces squeezed Gaza’s main cities yesterday, two months after Hamas’ deadly attack sparked a war that has killed thousands, left the Palestinian territory in ruins, and triggered an extraordinary UN bid for a ceasefire.
Weeks of fighting have left 17,177 people dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from Hamas, which rules the coastal strip.
Vowing to destroy the militants, Israel has relentlessly bombarded Gaza and sent in tanks and ground troops since the war began on Oct. 7 with unprecedented attacks by Hamas on southern Israel. Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, Israel said.
Photo: AP
Vast areas of Gaza have been reduced to a wasteland. About 80 percent of the population has been displaced, facing shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine, along with the threat of disease, the UN said.
The Hamas-run health ministry yesterday reported another 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City, and dozens more in Jabalia and Khan Yunis.
The death toll also rose in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot dead six Palestinians yesterday, the territory’s health ministry said.
An attack in Baghdad again raised fears of wider conflict. Salvoes of rockets targeted the US embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone before dawn, US officials said.
This is the first attack against the US mission in Baghdad since the Israel-Hamas war began.
In Gaza, fighting raged around cities in the center and south, including Deir al-Balah, where ambulances carried wounded.
“May God punish those who can see our suffering and remain calm,” said one Gazan, Rimah Mansi, who added that “all those we love” were gone.
The fighting has pushed Gazans southward, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp for many of the 1.9 million displaced people.
Israeli military released footage of naval forces firing from the Mediterranean toward what it called Hamas infrastructure on shore.
In a statement yesterday, the military said it had killed “numerous” militants in Khan Yunis, part of “extensive battles” in Gaza, where about 450 targets were struck on Thursday.
Israeli television stations aired footage on Thursday of blindfolded men wearing only underwear, guarded by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. The army said it was investigating.
The UN Security Council was to meet yesterday after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked the UN Charter’s Article 99, which no one in his post has done for decades.
The article allows the secretary-general to bring to the council’s attention “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen on Wednesday said Guterres’ tenure was “a danger to world peace” after he invoked Article 99.
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