Israeli drones attack hospital in southern Gaza, Palestinian Red
Crescent says
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[January 20, 2024]
By IbraheemAbu Mustafa and Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA/DOHA/TEL AVIV (Reuters) -The Palestinian Red Crescent accused
Israel of firing on Friday at a hospital in Khan Younis, as a major
advance in the main city in the southern Gaza Strip threatened the few
healthcare facilities still open.
The Red Crescent said displaced people were injured "due to intense
gunfire from the Israeli drones targeting citizens at Al-Amal Hospital"
as well as the rescue agency's base. The military said it was checking
the report.
Nearby in the same city, Israeli tanks were also approaching Gaza's
biggest remaining functioning hospital, Nasser, where people reported
hearing shellfire from the west. Residents also reported fierce gun
battles to the south.
Israel has launched a major new advance in Khan Younis this week to
capture the city, which it says is now the primary base of the Hamas
fighters who attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7, precipitating a war that
has devastated the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza health ministry said 142 Palestinians had been killed and 278
injured in Gaza in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll from more
than three months of war there to 24,762.
The World Health Organization says most of the enclave's 36 hospitals
have stopped working. Only 15 are partially functioning and those are
operating at up to three times their capacity, without adequate fuel or
medical supplies, it says.
Israeli officials have accused Hamas fighters of operating from
hospitals, including Nasser, which staff deny.
More than 1.7 million people - around 75% of Gaza's population - are
estimated to be displaced, many forced to move repeatedly, according to
U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) figures. Many have sought refuge
in tents that do little to protect them from the elements and disease.
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Among them, Mohammed al-Ghandour wanted to give his bride a beautiful
wedding but they had to flee their homes in Gaza City and the couple
finally got married this week in a tent city in Rafah, near the Egyptian
border, where they now live.
"My happiness is maybe at 3% but will get myself ready for my wife. I
want to make her happy," Ghandour said.
NETANYAHU REJECTS STATEHOOD
While saying he was not shying away from the "human tragedy" inflicted
on Gaza civilians, Israeli President Isaac Herzog cast the offensive as
a step towards more peaceful relations with the Palestinians in the
future, and bolstering global security, during his appearance at the
World Economic Forum in Davos.
In the north, where Israel says it has started pulling out troops and
shifting to smaller scale operations, 12 people were killed in Israeli
strikes on a residential building near the largely non-functioning Al
Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said.
An Israeli strike on a house in Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in the central
Gaza Strip killed five Palestinians, health officials said.
Washington has had scant success in persuading its ally to alleviate the
plight of the civilian population, deprived since October of regular aid
and adequate medical care.
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A boy walks near a damaged building after an Israeli raid, at Nour
Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank,
January 18, 2024. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta/ File Photo
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Israel says it will fight on until Hamas is eradicated, an aim
Palestinians call unachievable because of the group's structure and
deep roots in an enclave it has run since 2007.
Diplomats were dealing on Friday with the repercussions after
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to rule out an
independent Palestinian state, rejecting a long-standing pillar of
U.S. strategy in the Middle East.
"Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of
the Jordan River," Netanyahu told a briefing in Tel Aviv on
Thursday. "It clashes with the principle of sovereignty, but what
can you do?"
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Friday, the White
House said, without disclosing details of the call. White House
spokesperson John Kirby later said Biden still believed in a
two-state solution.
"He recognizes that's going to take a lot of hard work. It's going
to take a lot of leadership there in the region," Kirby told
reporters at a White House briefing.
Biden's strong support so far for Israel has created friction with
some members of his own Democratic party who are concerned over the
war's steep toll on Palestinian civilians.
Dozens of Biden's fellow Democrats signed a letter on Friday urging
his administration to reaffirm that the United States strongly
opposes "the forced and permanent displacement" of Palestinians from
Gaza.
HOSTAGE KILLED
Israel's onslaught on Gaza was triggered by Hamas attacks in which
around 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, of whom about
half are still in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
In one of countless protests in Israel since Oct. 7 to push for
action to secure the release of the hostages, some 200 women marched
in Tel Aviv on Friday, including one pulled along in a cage. They
chanted "Their time is running out, bring them back".
Israeli cabinet minister and former military chief Gadi Eizenkot
said a deal would be needed for the hostages to be released alive.
Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, a Gaza-based militant group allied
to Hamas, said on Friday an Israeli soldier it was holding captive
had been killed in an Israeli air strike, according to a video
released by the group to media outlets.
The footage showed the wounded hostage being operated on before he
spoke in Hebrew urging Israeli leaders to reach a settlement with
Gaza groups that would secure their release. There has been no
Israeli army comment.
The Russian foreign ministry said on Friday it had received a
delegation from Hamas and had urged it to release the hostages,
including three Russian nationals. Hamas said both sides emphasized
the importance of reaching a ceasefire.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Doha, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa in
Gaza, Henriette Chacar in Tel Aviv, Emma Farge in GenevaWriting by
Kevin Liffey, Alison Williams and Phil Stewart; Editing by Peter
Graff, Toby Chopra and Rosalba O'Brien)
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