Current:Home > NewsPalestinians crowd into ever-shrinking areas in Gaza as Israel’s war against Hamas enters 3rd month -WealthPro Academy
Palestinians crowd into ever-shrinking areas in Gaza as Israel’s war against Hamas enters 3rd month
View
Date:2025-04-17 00:44:29
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Desperate Palestinians fleeing Israel’s expanding ground offensive crowded into an ever-shrinking area of the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third month Friday. The United Nations warned that its aid operation is “in tatters” because no place in the besieged enclave is safe.
Israel’s ferocious military assault on Gaza, a tiny, densely populated territory, has led to widespread civilian casualties and mass displacements, triggering international alarm.
The Israeli army said Friday that over the past day the military had struck about 450 targets in the Gaza Strip by air, sea and ground, signaling the continued intensity of Israel’s campaign.
Earlier this week, U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used a rarely exercised power to warn the Security Council of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe,” and Arab and Islamic nations have called for a vote Friday on a draft Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, appears likely to block any U.N. effort to halt the fighting which was triggered by the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. Still, U.S. concern over the devastation was growing. U.S. officials told Israel ahead of the expansion of its ground offensive to southern Gaza several days ago that it must limit civilian deaths and displacement, saying too many Palestinians were killed when it obliterated much of Gaza City and the north.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a call with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer that casualties are still too high, a senior State Department official said. Blinken told Dermer that Israel must also do more to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomatic discussion.
Palestinians evacuate a wounded woman following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
Israel insists it must crush the military capabilities of Hamas, which rules Gaza, and remove it from power following the group’s Oct. 7 attack.
In the first stage of the war, Israel’s devastating air and ground campaign focused on the northern half of Gaza, as hundreds of thousands or residents fled south. Intense battles continued in parts of the north in recent days, while troops there have rounded up hundreds of Palestinian men.
In photos and video published Thursday, dozens of men are seen sitting in rows on a street in northern Gaza, stripped down to their underwear with their heads bowed as they are being guarded by Israeli troops.
A Palestinian woman gestures following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
The images were the first showing such detentions in the war. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops have detained and interrogated hundreds of people in Gaza suspected of militant links. U.N. monitors said troops reportedly detained men and boys from the age of 15 in a school-turned-shelter in the town of Beit Lahiya, in the north.
Over the past week, Israeli forces expanded their ground offensive into southern Gaza, with a focus on Khan Younis, the territory’s second largest city.
With the entire Gaza Strip under military assault, tens of thousands of people displaced by the fighting have packed into the border city of Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip, and Muwasi, a nearby patch of barren coastline that Israel has declared a safe zone.
With shelters significantly beyond capacity, many people pitched tents along the side of the road leading from Rafah to Muwasi.
Palestinians evacuate a wounded woman following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
“Humanitarian actors … are reporting extreme overcrowded conditions and lack of basic resources in Rafah,” said the United Nations’ humanitarian affairs section.
The ability of U.N. aid agencies to receive vital aid supplies had been “significantly impaired” over the past few days due to trucks and staff being stranded by the fighting, and telecommunications blackout, it said.
“We do not have a humanitarian operation in southern Gaza that can be called by that name anymore,” the U.N.’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned Thursday. The pace of Israel’s military assault “has made no place safe for civilians in southern Gaza, which had been a cornerstone of the humanitarian plan to protect civilians and thus to provide aid to them. But without places of safety, that plan is in tatters.”
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip set up a tent camp in the Muwasi area Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
With the entire Gaza Strip under military assault, Israel designated Muwasi on the territory’s Mediterranean Coast as a safe zone for those seeking safety from the fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants. But the U.N. and relief agencies say it is a poorly planned solution that offers no guarantee of safety in a territory where civilians have been faced by airstrikes even in other areas where the Israeli army has ordered them to evacuate to.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 17,100 people in Gaza — 70% of them women and children — and wounded more than 46,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which says many others are trapped under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and took more than 240 hostages. An estimated 138 hostages remain in Gaza, mostly soldiers and civilian men, after 105 were freed during a cease-fire in late November.
___
Mroue contributed from Beirut, Lebanon and Becatoros from Athens, Greece.
veryGood! (37434)
Related
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Major League Soccer hopes new roster rules allow teams to sign more star talent
- Obama, Pelosi and other Democrats make a fresh push for Biden to reconsider 2024 race
- Another Texas migrant aid group asks a judge to push back on investigation by Republican AG
- Clay Aiken's son Parker, 15, makes his TV debut, looks like his father's twin
- Michael Strahan's Daughter Isabella Strahan Details Pain of Heart “Cramping” Amid Cancer Journey
- Flight Attendant Helps Deliver Baby the Size of Her Hand in Airplane Bathroom
- Bud Light slips again, falling behind Modelo and Michelob Ultra after boycott
- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear ready to campaign for Harris-Walz after losing out for spot on the ticket
- Georgia Democrats sue to overturn law allowing unlimited campaign cash, saying GOP unfairly benefits
Ranking
- Video shows dog chewing cellphone battery pack, igniting fire in Oklahoma home
- Ashlyn Harris Shares Insight Into “Really Hard” Divorce From Ali Krieger
- Aurora Culpo Reveals Why She Was “Dumped” by Bethenny Frankel’s Ex Paul Bernon
- Woman dead, her parents hospitalized after hike leads to possible heat exhaustion
- Illinois Gov. Pritzker calls for sheriff to resign after Sonya Massey shooting
- Hello Kitty Is Not a Cat and We're Not OK
- Long Beach breaks ground on $1.5B railyard expansion at port to fortify US supply chain
- Zach Edey injury update: Grizzlies rookie leaves game with ankle soreness after hot start
Recommendation
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
Shelter provider accused of pervasive sexual abuse of migrant children in U.S. custody
How is Scott Stapp preparing for Creed's reunion tour? Sleep, exercise and honey
Man who escaped from Oregon prison 30 years ago found in Georgia using dead child's identity, officials say
Video shows dog chewing cellphone battery pack, igniting fire in Oklahoma home
When a Retired Scientist Suggested Virginia Weaken Wetlands Protections, the State Said, No Way
RNC Day 4: Trump to accept GOP presidential nomination as assassination attempt looms over speech
Montana’s largest nursing home prepares to close following patient safety violations