As if time was running out, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stepped up the pressure on Gaza. The soldiers conducted offensives throughout the Strip, which was now divided into three almost watertight slices. The southern area is the focus of the shelling, which is among the heaviest ever recorded in the Palestinian territory. The Khan Younes refugee camp is the IDF's main target. Residents, who have been ordered to evacuate but have no real safe areas, are trying to shelter from gunfire and bombs as best they can. The United Nations and NGOs say that no place can be considered safe. The UN estimates that 1.87 million people, or 80% of the population, have been forced to flee their homes. Thousands of them, on foot, crammed into carts or their luggage piled on the roofs of their cars, continue to leave for the south and the nearby city of Rafah, which is already saturated and where the humanitarian situation is dramatic.
To discover
- Follow the latest news on the Israel-Hamas war on the Le Figaro app
The streets of Khan Younes, where ground troops are also engaged, were almost empty on Wednesday as the dead and wounded poured into the hospitals, where everything is in short supply.
Two months after the start of the war unleashed by the bloody Hamas raid, Palestinians in Gaza are living "in utter horror", according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. "The attack on the civilian population today is one of the most serious of our time," said the Norwegian Refugee Council, a well-respected organization. The offensive killed 16,000 people in Gaza, 70 percent of them women and minors, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Hamas' top leaders have taken refuge in the south
IDF troops are conducting operations on foot, especially around Khan Younes, making great progress in areas devastated by intense shelling. "We have secured many Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip, and we are now conducting operations against its strongholds in the south," IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Herzi Halevi said Tuesday. The Israeli military believes that Hamas' top leaders have taken refuge in the south, particularly its military leader, Yahya Sinwar, a native of Khan Younes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the IDF had surrounded his family residence.
The attack on the civilian population today is one of the most serious of our time
A spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council
Fighting is reported to be particularly fierce in the refugee camp and in the Jabaliya area of the northern Gaza Strip. The General Staff reported seven deaths in its ranks on Tuesday and two more on Wednesday afternoon, bringing the death toll to 84 since the beginning of the operations. Most were hit by anti-tank missiles or improvised explosive devices. On X (formerly Twitter), the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, points out that "Palestinian militiamen are using more sophisticated tactics to target Israeli forces throughout the Gaza Strip." Hamas reportedly dynamited a house and brought it down to Israeli troops in Khan Younes on Tuesday, the ISW said.
On the diplomatic front, Joe Biden once again called for civilian casualties to be limited. On Tuesday, the U.S. administration decided on sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers. Berlin on Wednesday welcomed the US decision and called on the European Union to consider possible sanctions. In response, according to an NGO, the government has approved the construction of 1700,<> new housing units in a settlement neighborhood in East Jerusalem.