Status: 04.12.2023, 16:18 PM
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All that remains of this Palestinian family's house is rubble and ashes. © Hatem Ali/AP/dpa
Israel is advancing into the south of the Gaza Strip. Aid organizations describe the humanitarian situation as desolate. Foreign Minister Baerbock makes an appeal to Israel. The overview.
Gaza/Tel Aviv - Following the expansion of the Israeli military operation to the south of the Gaza Strip, criticism of the army's actions is growing in view of the suffering of the civilian population. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock admonished Israel that there is also a "responsibility to alleviate civilian suffering" when exercising the right to self-defense. Aid organizations describe the situation in the Gaza Strip as desolate and speak of "horror" and "intolerable suffering of the civilian population." In the north, too, the operation against the Islamist Hamas continues.
No safe place in the Gaza Strip
No one feels safe if bombs fall every ten minutes, James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), told the BBC. He described the situation as a "horror". "When I see one child after another being rolled in, parents screaming on stretchers with horrific war injuries — they're not safe in hospitals or shelters," Elder said. For the people in the south of the Gaza Strip, in addition to the danger of attacks, the situation is aggravated by the fact that they are already exhausted from fleeing from the north.
Red Cross: No adequate humanitarian aid possible
The Israeli military accuses the Islamist Hamas of carrying out attacks from residential areas and hospitals and using civilians as human shields.
The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, lamented that adequate humanitarian aid is currently not possible. "The scale of human suffering is intolerable," she said during a visit to the embattled Palestinian territory.
UNRWA: nearly 1.9 million internally displaced persons in Gaza
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled from the embattled north to the south, where there is now likely to be increased fighting on the ground. According to the Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), almost 1.9 million people have now fled their homes. This is more than 80 percent of the population. Nearly one million internally displaced people are staying in 99 facilities in the center of the coastal area, as well as in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south. More than 2.2 million people live in the Gaza Strip - in an area only slightly larger than that of the city of Munich.
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The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which was carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. On the Israeli side, more than 1200,850 people have been killed, including at least <> civilians.
Hamas: Death toll in Gaza rises to nearly 15,900
Nearly 15,900 people have now been killed in Israeli counterattacks, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. More than 42,000 people were injured. The casualty figures cannot be independently verified at present, but the United Nations and other observers point out that the agency's figures have proven to be credible overall in the past.
Baerbock to Israel: Alleviate civil suffering in the Gaza Strip
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said in Berlin that the spread of the fighting to the entire Gaza Strip now also affects areas where people have sought protection at Israel's request. The humanitarian situation threatens to deteriorate further. Therefore, they appeal "to allow necessary humanitarian aid, including fuel, into the Gaza Strip to supply the people." Israel imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip after the October 7 terror attack.
Baerbock said at a conference of the Green parliamentary group in Berlin to Israel: "The central question is how this right to self-defense is carried out. That it is precisely in this phase that there is a responsibility to alleviate civilian suffering."
Israel: Haven't defeated Hamas in the north yet
Israel's stated goal is to destroy Hamas' leadership and military capabilities. After the end of a ceasefire on Friday, Israel's army intensified its war against Hamas and, according to its own statements, is now advancing to the south with ground troops. But the fighting also continues in the north. Good progress has been made, but Hamas has not yet been fully defeated militarily in the north, Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told CNN. We are dealing with an enemy "who has no problem sacrificing civilians for his military cause," Conricus said.
Israel's Military: 200 Hamas Targets Attacked
Israel's army said it attacked 200 targets of the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip during the night. Soldiers attacked a school in the north from which Hamas attacked Israeli soldiers, the military said.
Palestinian extremists again fired rockets at Israel. According to the army, rocket alarms were sounded in border towns near the Gaza Strip.
Shelling on the border with Lebanon - Israeli soldiers injured
Israel's military also recorded several launches from Lebanon on targets in Israel. Three Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded in the attacks. According to the report, the army attacked the places from which the attacks originated. Hezbollah in Lebanon claimed responsibility for attacking Israeli soldiers and shelling other targets. Israel responded with counter-fire.
Army operations in the West Bank - three Palestinians dead
Meanwhile, the situation in the West Bank remains tense. Two Palestinian militants were killed in a raid by the Israeli army and police in Kalkilia in the northwestern West Bank. According to the Israeli forces, those killed were terrorists. The armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party said the two were members of the Al-Aqsa Brigades.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, a 33-year-old man was killed during an army operation in Qalandia near Ramallah. According to reports, armed clashes broke out. Dpa