The UN expressed its alarm on Tuesday as Israel intensified its air strikes on central Gaza, where more than 100 Palestinians had lost their lives in one section of the territory since the eve of Christmas.
The conflict escalated around the festive season, especially in a central region just below the seasonal river that divides the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers instructed civilians to evacuate the area, but many claimed that there was nowhere safe to go.
“The ongoing aerial attacks on Middle Gaza by Israeli forces, which have resulted in more than 100 Palestinian deaths since the eve of Christmas, are a source of grave concern for us,” said Seif Magango, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office.
“Israeli forces have a duty to protect civilians. They cannot disregard their obligations under international humanitarian law by issuing warnings and evacuation orders.”
Palestinians flee their homes with their belongings, following an order from the Israeli army to leave the area, in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on December 26, 2023.
Palestinians flee their homes with their belongings, following an order from the Israeli army to leave the area, in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on December 26, 2023.
Israel is resolved to achieve its objective of eliminating Hamas, despite the global appeals for a ceasefire in the 11-week-old war, and the new worries that the violence could spread with US and Iran-backed forces clashing in other parts of the region.
After Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages on October 7 in the most lethal day in Israel’s history, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a full-scale attack that has devastated much of Gaza under Hamas control.
Palestinian health officials reported that nearly 21,000 people have been verified dead in Israeli strikes, with thousands more possibly buried under debris. Almost all of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the enclave have been displaced from their homes, some repeatedly.
Israel claims that it is doing its best to protect civilians, and holds Hamas responsible for endangering them by operating among them, which Hamas rejects. But even the United States, Israel’s closest ally, has urged it to do more to prevent civilian casualties from what President Joe Biden has termed “indiscriminate bombing”.
‘The rest were martyred’
Israel expanded its ground operation from the northern half of Gaza to cover the entire territory after a ceasefire broke down at the beginning of December.
The fighting in the north has remained as fierce as ever in recent days, while the southern and central areas, which now host hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians, have turned into battlefields.
Medics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the biggest medical facility in the southern Gaza Strip, said that 10 Palestinians had died in two separate Israeli air strikes.
“There were more than 20 people in the house, including children and women, who were either displaced or residents. We were able to save some children, but the rest were martyred,” said Salah Shaat, a resident of Khan Younis, recounting the aftermath of an air strike at dusk on Monday.
Washington has openly pressured Israel in recent weeks to reduce its Gaza war from a full-blown military assault to a more focused operation of raids on Hamas leaders. But Israel says it will not cease fighting until Hamas is totally destroyed.
Netanyahu emphasized that point on Monday at a meeting with lawmakers after visiting troops in Gaza.
People who are mourning gather next to the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli strikes, at a hospital in the central Gaza Strip, on December 25, 2023.
People who are mourning gather next to the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli strikes, at a hospital in the central Gaza Strip, on December 25, 2023.
“We are not stopping. The war will go on until we finish it, no less,” he said.
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