Israel conducts new strikes in Gaza, families seek shelter after
evacuation order
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[July 03, 2024]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mohammad Salem
CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) -Many Palestinians were seeking shelter on
Wednesday after fleeing their homes in southern Gaza and complained of
water shortages as Israel pressed on with its military offensive in the
densely populated enclave.
Israeli forces carried out new military strikes in the southern city of
Rafah amid fierce fighting with Palestinian militants overnight,
residents said. At least 12 people were killed in new strikes in central
and northern Gaza, health officials said.
Israel's leaders have said they are winding down the phase of intense
fighting against Hamas, the Islamist group that has governed Gaza since
2007, and will soon shift to more targeted operations in the nearly
nine-month-old war in Gaza.
But fighting continued overnight in two locations at the centre of
Rafah, where tanks have seized several districts and advanced further
west and north of the city in recent days, and concerns about the plight
of hundreds of thousands of displaced people are growing.
The Israeli military said its forces had continued targeted,
intelligence-based operations in Rafah, dismantled several military
sites and killed Palestinian militants.
Hamas' armed wing said it had shelled two Israeli tanks in a
neighbourhood west of Rafah and fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces
attacking Shejaia, an eastern suburb of Gaza City in the centre of the
enclave.
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The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an allied group, said it had shelled an
Israeli military bulldozer in Rafah, and fired on Israeli army positions
east of Shejaia.
In Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, two Israeli airstrikes killed
five Palestinians, health officials said. In Shejaia an airstrike killed
four and wounded 17, medics said.
Another airstrike hit a car in the southern city of Deir Al-Balah,
killing three people, health officials said.
Deir Al-Balah is crowded with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians
forced to flee homes elsewhere in Gaza, and residents complain of acute
shortages of drinking water and inflated prices for basic foodstuff.
"There is no clean water to drink. We are forced to buy salty or unclean
water at a high price," said Shaban, 47, a father of five.
"Most of the displaced suffer from abdominal pains and diseases such as
hepatitis because of the unhealthy water, the lack of decent food and
the pollution as many live near sewage pools," he told Reuters via a
chat app.
HOSPITAL EVACUATED
The war in Gaza began when Hamas burst into southern Israel on Oct. 7,
killed about 1,200 people and seized around 250 civilians and soldiers
who they took back in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
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An Israeli tank manoeuvres near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the
Israel-Hamas conflict, in Israel, July 2, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File
Photo
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The offensive launched by Israel in retaliation to try to eliminate
Hamas has killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the Gaza health
ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in
ruins. Internationally mediated talks have failed so far to secure a
lasting ceasefire.
While the United States has maintained its strong support for Israel
throughout the war, President Joe Biden has on some occasions
expressed concerns about Israel's conduct.
A White House official said on Tuesday Biden was expected to meet
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late July when the
Israeli leader visits to address the U.S. Congress.
The Gaza health ministry said an Israeli airstrike on a house in the
southern city of Khan Younis had killed Hassan Hamdan, head of the
burns and plastic surgery department at Nasser Medical Complex,
along with all his family members.
Israel's army did not comment on the ministry's statement and
Reuters was unable immediately to verify it.
Khan Younis residents said a lack of designated shelters meant many
families had slept on the road because they could not find tents
after Israeli army evacuation orders led to the displacement of
thousands of people living east of the city.
The last functioning hospital in the area, the Gaza European
Hospital, which had housed displaced families as well as patients,
was also evacuated.
"We were told to evacuate the European Hospital. We came to Nasser
Hospital, but it was full," said Ali Abu Ismehan, who was wounded by
Israeli fire and had both his legs and pelvis broken.
"I am staying in the street, waiting for them to find me a place
inside (the hospital)," he told Reuters.
An Israeli defence official said on Tuesday that although evacuation
orders had been issued for the area in which the European Gaza
Hospital is located, staff and patients were told they could stay.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus said it was "devastating" that the European Gaza
Hospital was out of service when access to health care was urgently
needed.
He wrote on X that the Nasser Medical Complex was now at full
capacity and "has a shortage of medical supplies and drugs for
surgery."
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by Timothy
Heritage)
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