As of: February 19, 2024, 5:35 a.m
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Palestinians leave Nasser Hospital and neighboring schools in Khan Yunis.
© Mohammed Talatene/dpa
Israel believes the Islamists are at the end, their leadership cut off from communication.
The suffering of civilians is enormous.
Injured people can apparently no longer be treated.
The news at a glance.
Tel Aviv/Gaza - Israel's military continued its operations against the Islamist Hamas militia in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend.
The army took control of Nasser Hospital, one of the larger hospitals in the coastal area.
According to employees, the hospital is no longer functional.
The army announced on Sunday evening that hundreds of terrorists and terror suspects who were hiding in the clinic had been captured.
Some of them are said to have posed as medical staff.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Joav Galant sees the Islamists' fighting spirit broken after more than four months of war.
“200 terrorists surrendered in Nasser Hospital, dozens more in Amal Hospital,” Galant said on Sunday at a meeting with army commanders.
“This shows that Hamas has lost its fighting spirit.” The information could not initially be independently verified.
In addition, the Hamas leadership under Gaza chief Jihia al-Sinwar, who went into hiding out of fear of the Israeli security forces, lost contact with the outside world in their hiding places.
“The Gaza branch of Hamas is not responding,” Galant said.
“There is no one left locally to talk to.” The Hamas leadership abroad is already looking for a replacement for Al-Sinwar.
The militia only has organized forces in the central Gaza Strip and in Rafah, the southern border town with Egypt.
Controversial advance to Rafah
In Rafah, the Israeli army is preparing to move in to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions and free suspected hostages there.
However, the Israeli government has not yet issued an operational order in this regard.
Military action in the Gaza Strip's southernmost city is highly controversial because it is crowded with 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom have fled fighting in other parts of the coastal area.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with Gaza.
On the Israeli side, more than 1,200 people were killed and another 250 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip.
Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
Hospitals can no longer help the injured
So far, almost 29,000 Palestinians have died in Israeli attacks and fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
68,880 others were injured.
The information could not initially be independently verified.
The health authority spoke of a dramatic situation on Sunday.
A large number of injured people cannot be treated due to non-functional hospitals and a lack of medication.
Thousands of wounded people would have to be taken to other countries so that they can be helped.
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Marshall plan for the reconstruction of Gaza called for
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtaje called on the international community to come up with a reconstruction program for the badly damaged coastal area.
“We need a Marshall Plan for the Gaza Strip,” Schtaje told the German Press Agency on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
This plan must consist of three components: emergency aid, reconstruction and a revival of the economy.
“We know from satellite images that 45 percent of the Gaza Strip is destroyed.
That means 281,000 residential units that are completely or partially destroyed.”
A repair could sometimes be possible in weeks or months.
“That means we need a lot of money for this,” Schtaje continued.
An investigation is underway with the United Nations into how the greatest need can be met.
The head of government is in office with his autonomous authority in the West Bank and has no de facto control over the Gaza Strip, which was solely controlled by Hamas until the outbreak of war.
Report: Iran now advises allies to exercise moderation
Hamas owes much of its money, weapons and training to Iran.
Since October 7, other armed groups supported by Iran have also been stoking tensions in the wider Middle East region.
The Shiite militia Hezbollah is shelling northern Israel from southern Lebanon, from where 80,000 residents had to be brought into the interior of the country to safety.
Shiite combat units in Syria and Iraq are increasingly attacking US bases.
The Houthis in Yemen fire rockets at ships in the Red Sea.
The formations, together with their sponsor Iran, see themselves as an “axis of resistance” that has set itself the goal of destroying Israel.
The USA and Great Britain have so far responded by bombing bases and missile sites belonging to militias allied with Tehran, but have avoided attacking Iran itself.
A further escalation on any of these fronts, but especially in Lebanon, could – it is widely feared – trigger a conflagration in the Middle East.
According to a report in the Washington Post, Iran is now pushing to avoid such a scenario.
Iranian emissaries recently advised their allies in the region to exercise moderation in discreet meetings, the newspaper wrote on Sunday.
“Iran is making every effort to prevent an extension of the war and irreversible escalation,” the paper quoted an unnamed Iraqi official close to a pro-Iranian militia as saying.
In Lebanon, Tehran also appears to be discouraging its ally, Shiite leader Hassan Nasrallah, from seeking the ultimate confrontation with Israel.
There, according to the Washington Post, the narrative was agreed upon not to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of his political pressure situation by opening a new war front.
The Israeli is currently “pushed into a corner” and the Gaza war has called into question the emerging normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the paper quoted a Hezbollah member as saying.
A war in Lebanon, on the other hand, would “make Netanyahu the winner.”
The Iranian persuasion appears to be having an effect, according to the US newspaper.
There have been no attacks by pro-Iranian forces on the US military in Syria and Iraq since February 4th.
Despite all his threatening gestures, Nasrallah in Lebanon avoided declaring war on Israel.
Only the Houthis in Yemen still shoot at ships in the Red Sea.
What will be important on Monday
A hearing into Israel's often controversial actions in the occupied Palestinian territories begins at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
The EU foreign ministers want to decide on a new military operation - Operation Aspides - in Brussels in view of the Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army continues its action against Hamas in the Khan Yunis area.
dpa