Thousands Flee As Israel Troops Push On Gaza, Target “Hamas Structures”
Thousands of Palestinians fled North Gaza as Israel intensified their ground assault bombarding residential areas in a bid to “tighten the stranglehold” around Hamas. Israel doubled down on its denial of a ceasefire till Hamas releases hostages.
Here are 10 updates on the Israel-Hamas war
Israeli troops and Hamas operatives are fighting at close range in Gaza City as thousands of civilians fled south to avoid being trapped in the heart of the conflict. On Thursday, Israel said that their troops have entered the “heart” of the Gaza Strip.
Thousands still remain inside the encircled north, including at Gaza City’s main Al Shifa hospital, where Um Haitham Hejela was sheltering with her young children in an improvised tent.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) shared a video on X of their assault on Gaza cities and claimed that they were targetting Hamas infrastructure and the tunnels being used by their operatives.
Hamas’ armed wing also released a video that appeared to show intense street battles alongside bombed-out buildings in Gaza City.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and, according to Israeli officials, killed about 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and seized 239 hostages.
Aiming to destroy Hamas, Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip that, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, has killed more than 10,500 people, many of them children.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again rejected international calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that Hamas must first release all the hostages.
Hamas claimed that Israel has also stopped evacuations of wounded Palestinians or foreigners from the Gaza Strip to Egypt via the Rafah crossing. The crossing point remained closed due to Israel’s refusal to approve the list of wounded who were to be evacuated, a Hamas official told AFP.
US warplanes carried out a strike on an Iran-linked weapons storage facility in eastern Syria today in response to attacks against American personnel, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
It is the second time in roughly two weeks that the United States has targeted a location in Syria it said was tied to Iran, which supports an array of groups that Washington blames for a spike in attacks on its forces in the Middle East.