- Israel conducted new airstrikes in southern Gaza,
particularly around Khan Yunis, in response to rockets fired by Islamic Jihad. - This has led to casualties and forced evacuations of
densely populated areas. - International efforts to negotiate a truce have stalled,
and recent releases of detainees have sparked controversy and further political
tension.
Israel
carried out fresh strikes in southern Gaza on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of
Palestinians to flee after the army once again ordered the evacuation of
certain densely populated areas.
Witnesses
reported multiple strikes in and around the city of Khan Yunis, where eight
people were killed and more than 30 were wounded, according to a medical source
and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The
bombardment came after a rare rocket barrage claimed by the militant group
Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas.
The rockets
were aimed at Israeli communities near the Gaza border and were fired in
retaliation for Israeli “crimes… against our Palestinian people”,
said the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli
military said about “20 projectiles were identified crossing from the area
of Khan Yunis”, most of which were intercepted. It reported no casualties
and said artillery was “striking the sources of the fire”.
This was
followed on Monday by an order to evacuate Al-Qarara, Bani Suhaila and other
towns in Rafah and Khan Yunis, nearly two months after an initial order to
evacuate Rafah ahead of a ground offensive.
Prior to
Israel’s ground incursion in Rafah, well over one million people had been
displaced to Gaza’s southernmost city.
“Fear
and extreme anxiety have gripped people after the evacuation order,” said
Bani Suhaila resident Ahmad Najjar. “There is a large displacement of
residents.”
‘Difficult
fight’
Other parts
of the Gaza Strip were reeling from continued fighting nearly nine months into
the devastating conflict.
Witnesses
and the civil defence agency reported Israeli air strikes in the southern Rafah
area and in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.
And in Gaza
City’s Shujaiya district, where battles raged for a fifth day on Monday,
witnesses reported heavy Israeli tank fire.
An AFP
correspondent reported Israeli helicopters firing on houses in Shujaiya, while
Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said it was continuing to fight in
Shujaiya and Rafah.
The Israeli
military said troops “eliminated numerous terrorists” in raids in
Shujaiya, where air strikes also killed “approximately 20” militants.
The
military also announced the death of a soldier in southern Gaza, bringing its
total toll during the ground offensive to 317.
Netanyahu,
who recently declared that the “intense phase” of the war was winding
down, said on Sunday troops were “operating in Rafah, Shujaiya, everywhere
in the Gaza Strip”.
“This
is a difficult fight that is being waged above ground… and below ground”
in tunnels.
The war
started with Hamas’s 7 October attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the
deaths of 1 195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on
Israeli figures.
The
militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42
the army says are dead.
Israel’s
retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37 900 people, also mostly civilians,
according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Months of
on-and-off talks towards a truce and hostage release deal have made little
progress, with Hamas saying Saturday there was “nothing new” in a
revised plan presented by US mediators.
‘Torture’
Israeli
authorities released Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa
hospital, along with dozens of other detainees who returned Monday to Gaza for
treatment, sparking anger from Netanyahu.
READ | Gaza hospital chief among Palestinians freed by Israel
Successive
Israeli raids have reduced large parts of Al-Shifa, the territory’s largest
medical complex, to rubble.
Israel has
accused Hamas of using Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza as a cover for
military operations, claims the militants have rejected.
Speaking
after his release, Abu Salmiya said he had suffered “severe torture”
during his detention since November.
“Detainees
were subjected to physical and psychological humiliation” and
“several inmates died in interrogation centres and were deprived of food
and medicine,” he said.
Israel’s
Shin Bet intelligence agency said it had decided on the release alongside the
Israeli military “to free up places in detention centres”.
The agency
said it “opposed the release of terrorists” who had taken part in
attacks on Israeli civilians “so it was decided to free several Gaza
detainees who represent a lesser danger”.
But
Netanyahu said he had ordered the agency to conduct an investigation into the
release and provide him with the results by Tuesday.
In a statement, Netanyahu said:
The release of the director of Shifa Hospital is a serious mistake and a moral failure. The place of this man, under whose responsibility our abductees were murdered and held, is in prison.
According
to Abu Salmiya, no charges were ever brought against him.
The United
Nations and relief agencies have voiced alarm over the dire humanitarian crisis
and the threat of starvation the war and Israeli siege have brought for Gaza’s
2.4 million people.
The UN
humanitarian agency OCHA reported that during the month of June, Israeli
authorities facilitated less than half of 115 planned humanitarian assistance
missions to northern Gaza.
In a
displacement camp in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, pharmacist Sami Hamid said skin
infections were on the rise, particularly among children, “because of the
hot weather and lack of clean water”.
“The
number of skin infections has increased, especially scabies and
chickenpox,” as have hepatitis cases probably linked to untreated sewage
flowing right beside tents, said Hamid.
