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The war in Israel is becoming more and more dramatic for residents and relatives of the hostages.
The city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip is witnessing the heaviest fighting in weeks.
Jerusalem – Israel shelled the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
There was also an attack in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, which reportedly killed at least 16 people.
The southern city of Khan Younis saw the heaviest fighting in the Gaza Strip for weeks, in which, according to Israeli sources, at least 40 Hamas fighters were killed.
Despite pressure from the US due to the high number of civilian casualties, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Khan Younis has not yet fully scaled back.
This is also indicated by the fierce fighting, especially in the center of the Gaza Strip.
The increasing doubts of the families of hostages held by Hamas and its allies have not yet persuaded Israel to withdraw.
A sign of hope in the war in Israel is that medicine intended for the hostages appears to have reached the Gaza Strip, although it is not clear whether it has already reached its intended recipients.
The war in the Gaza Strip continues to escalate: Palestinians inspect the remains of buildings destroyed after Israeli attacks in Rafah on Thursday.
© Loay Ayyoub/The Washington Post
Israel War: Attacks in Khan Younis destroyed homes and cemeteries
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops, supported by tanks and aircraft, attacked several Hamas weapons depots and bases in the Khan Younis area.
Israeli forces withdrew from near al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday after several days of heavy fighting.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, homes and a cemetery were destroyed and thousands of refugees were forced to flee.
Fighting also flared in the northern Gaza Strip, where some civilians have tried to return home after a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.
Witnesses reported shelling and gunfire in several parts of Gaza City and surrounding communities.
A resident provided The Washington Post with footage of gunfire and explosions around the heavily damaged Jabalya refugee camp.
The widespread breakdown in communications in Gaza continued into the seventh day of attacks in the Khan Younis area, making it difficult to reach witnesses.
“This week we moved to three different places”: Local residents report on the Israel war
Heavy fighting continued in Gaza's second-largest city, although Israel withdrew at least three divisions and said it had largely completed operations in the north.
The number of firefights has decreased compared to the first months of the ground invasion, residents said, but shelling is still common.
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“Israeli bombardment of various areas in Gaza City has not stopped,” said Mahmoud, a local resident who saw civilians fleeing to al-Shifa hospital during an attack on Wednesday afternoon.
On Thursday, Israeli tanks withdrew from the area, he said.
Like other Gazans, he spoke on condition that his last name not be used to ensure his safety.
Shukri, another Gaza City resident, said increased fighting had driven Palestinians back to the streets.
“This week my family and I moved to three different locations because of the renewed bombing and clashes in the northern Gaza Strip,” he said.
The intense pace of fighting and airstrikes has heightened concerns among the families of more than 100 hostages held in the Gaza Strip for nearly 15 weeks.
Many of them have asked the Israeli government for a ceasefire that would allow the hostages to be released through negotiations.
About 100 Israeli hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire in late November.
The military and politicians believe continuing fighting is the best way to persuade Hamas to talk about another deal.
Hamas has said it will only agree to a deal if Israel stops all military action.
“We have no right to stop fighting as long as there are hostages in Gaza,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a radio interview on Thursday.
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Israel's Prime Minister Addresses Nation: 'We Aim for Total Victory'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined in an evening address to the nation, rejecting growing international calls for an end to the conflict: "We seek total victory," he said.
“It's not just about hitting Hamas, it's not about another round with Hamas - it's about a complete victory.”
However, several released hostages said the bombings appeared to have left Hamas unfazed and in some cases hostages were killed or injured.
Merav Svirsky, the sister of a hostage recently killed in Gaza, blamed ongoing fighting for his demise after a long period of captivity.
Both of his parents were killed in the first Hamas attacks.
“It is unfortunate that it did not come to an end for him on October 7th.
“In this way he would have been spared 99 days of fear and death,” she said of Itai Svirsky in a radio interview on Thursday, the Times of Israel reported.
“He was shot by Hamas, apparently out of stress over a nearby attack - military pressure endangering the hostages.”
Anger from hostage families in the Israel war is also increasing in Washington
The hostage families' anger at the government and Netanyahu has become increasingly public, both in Israel and abroad.
At an appearance on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Liz Hirsh Naftali accused Netanyahu of putting his own political needs ahead of the release of more hostages.
Naftali's four-year-old great-niece Abigail Edan was kidnapped after Hamas militants killed her parents.
President Joe Biden, she said, should reconsider his strong support for the Israeli government until it does more.
“Sometimes friends have to deliver tough messages,” Naftali said in a speech that appeared to surprise some of the pro-Israel U.S. lawmakers in attendance.
“And after 104 days, we must deliver these messages.
We must ensure that Israel is pressured to reach an agreement to end this war and bring the hostages home.”
Hope in the Gaza Strip: France delivers medicine to the hostages
Supporters of the hostages welcomed a rare diplomatic breakthrough: a shipment of medicines to the Gaza Strip under a Qatar-brokered deal between Israel and Hamas.
The militant group agreed to pass on French-supplied medicines to individual hostages.
In return, the agreement will see vital medicines delivered to the most vulnerable parts of the Gaza Strip, where the health system is collapsing due to the fighting.
According to local news reports, the drugs were brought to the enclave on Wednesday night after an inspection by Israel, but authorities were still waiting for proof that they had been handed over to the hostages.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it was working with the parties to facilitate extradition.
“To my knowledge, we have not seen any evidence of this to date,” Avi Hyman, an Israeli government spokesman, said at a briefing on Thursday.
A group of Israelis tried to block aid supplies from entering the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
They protested against humanitarian aid, which they say is mainly intended to prolong Hamas's rule in the enclave.
“These trucks that are driving straight into the murderous arms of Hamas must stop,” Reut Ben Haim said in an interview with Israeli radio at the scene, where police prevented protesters from blocking the vehicles.
Ben Haim lives in Netivot in southern Israel, which came under rocket fire from the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The IDF had withdrawn thousands of soldiers from the area earlier in the week, drawing the ire of Israelis who called for more aggressive attacks.
Israeli forces step up raids in the Gaza Strip
Israeli forces have also stepped up raids in the occupied West Bank, and on Wednesday Palestinian officials reported airstrikes in two refugee camps that they said killed at least nine people.
At least one more Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire and 12 others were injured as of Thursday morning, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
To the authors
Miriam Berger
covers foreign news for The Washington Post from Washington, DC.
Before joining the Post in 2019, she lived in Jerusalem and Cairo and reported freelance from the Middle East and parts of Africa and Central Asia.
Steve Hendrix
has been the Washington Post's Jerusalem bureau chief since 2019.
He joined the Post in 2000 and has written for just about every section of the paper: Foreign, National, Metro, Style, Travel, the Magazine.
He has reported from the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, America and most corners of the United States.
Israeli military operations focused on the northern refugee camps of Tulkarm and Nur Shams for a second day on Thursday.
Local media circulated videos of Israeli bulldozers and tanks in devastated streets and reported raids and clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces.
The IDF told the Post on Thursday that the "anti-terrorism operation in Tulkarm camp has been ongoing for over 35 hours" and that security forces "continue to operate in the city."
Balousha reported from Amman, Jordan.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on January 19, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.