Status: 05.12.2023, 05:30 a.m.
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In the Khan Yunis area, there are said to be intense attacks by the Israeli forces. © Mohammed Talatene/dpa
Israel's army is intensifying its attacks in southern Gaza. For the civilian population, the situation is becoming increasingly unbearable. The overview.
Gaza/Tel Aviv - Israel's army continues to advance in the south of the Gaza Strip and, according to a media report, has shelled targets in the Khan Yunis area. The Times of Israel cited Palestinian reports that there were intense attacks by Israeli forces in the largest city in the southern part of the sealed coastal area.
Earlier, dozens of Israeli tanks advanced into southern Gaza and were spotted near Khan Yunis. Eyewitnesses also saw armored personnel carriers and bulldozers, it said.
Growing criticism of Israel's actions
Following the extension of the Israeli military operation against the Islamist Hamas to the south of the sealed coastal area, criticism of the army's actions is growing in view of the suffering of the civilian population. Aid organisations in the south speak of "horror" and "unbearable suffering of the civilian population". No one feels safe if bombs fall every 10 minutes, James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), told the BBC.
According to the aid organization Doctors Without Borders, two hospitals in the south can hardly cope with the influx of patients. Al-Aqsa Hospital and Nasser Hospital were particularly affected, the organization said yesterday. Israel accuses Hamas of carrying out attacks from residential areas and hospitals and using civilians as human shields.
Army spokesman: No total network failure in Gaza
Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman denied another total failure of telecommunications services in the coastal strip. He himself had seen live broadcasts of Palestinian propaganda people on TikTok, army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told the US broadcaster CNN. The networks may not be perfect, but there is no blackout in Gaza previously reported by the Palestinian company Paltel, the army spokesman said.
The Israeli army has activated an evacuation map that divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of small zones to inform civilians about combat zones. Critics, however, complain that people often have neither electricity nor internet to view the map. Many also don't know how to deal with it. In the south of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had fled there from the north of the territory on Israel's orders are crowded.
Israel's attacks have now killed nearly 15,900 people across the coastal area, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. 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.
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Israel has secret information on hostages
The army spokesman, meanwhile, said they had intelligence on the whereabouts of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. Asked if the military had intelligence on where the hostages might be, Conricus said, "Yes, we have." He could not provide further details. Israel estimates that 137 hostages are still being held.
Among them, according to Defense Minister Joav Galant, are 15 women and two children. Thousands of terrorists from Hamas and other groups invaded Israel on October 7 and carried out a massacre. Around 1200,240 people were murdered, most of them civilians. About 105 people were deported to the Gaza Strip that day. Last week, during a ceasefire, 240 hostages were released in exchange for <> Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas says it will continue negotiations for the release of more hostages only after the end of the war. "We want to get all the hostages back," said Israeli army spokesman Conricus. If this is not possible through negotiations, other means will be used.
Report: Israel Able to Flood Tunnels
According to a media report, Israel has assembled a system of large pumps that could be used to flood Hamas' extensive network of tunnels under the Gaza Strip with seawater. As the Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials, it is not known whether Israel's government intends to use this tactic. Israel has neither made a final decision nor ruled out such a plan, it said.
With such tactics, Israel would be able to destroy the tunnels and drive the terrorists out of their underground hideout. On the other hand, it would threaten the water supply to the Gaza Strip, it said. Israel's army says it has found more than 800 tunnel shafts since the beginning of the war. Around 500 of them have already been destroyed, it was said on Sunday. Many kilometers of the underground tunnel routes have been destroyed. Initially, the information could not be independently verified.
Clashes on Israel's border with Lebanon
Israel's military, meanwhile, has attacked positions of the Hezbollah militia there in response to shelling from Lebanon. According to the Israeli army, warplanes had recently hit missile positions of the Iranian-backed Shiite militia.
"Terrorist infrastructure and a military site" were also taken under fire. They were responding to shelling from Lebanon on targets in Israel the day before. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there have been repeated confrontations between Israel's army and militant groups such as Hezbollah in the border region with Lebanon. There have already been deaths on both sides.
What is becoming important today
Israel continues to advance in the south of the Gaza Strip with ground troops against the Islamist Hamas. Aid organisations describe the situation for the civilian population there as sheer horror. Dpa