Israeli forces step up their bombardment in southern Gaza, storming a hospital and barricading another hospital International

This Monday, Israeli forces entered the city west of Khan Younis, capturing a hospital and barricading another in their biggest bombardment campaign from land, sea and air in southern Gaza this year, killing dozens of families Are. run away. Without major changes in the situation for several days, troops have advanced into Al Mawasi, a town on the Mediterranean coast that was previously designated as a safe zone. Photographs from the area show clouds of smoke caused by the bombardment, Israeli armored vehicles in the new neighborhoods of Khan Yunis (Gaza’s second largest city), and entire families in cars and trailers headed towards the nearby Rafah area, where earlier One million people are packed together since then. ,

The Rafah area, where the border with Egypt is located, is where most of the displaced people are concentrated – most of whom have fled on more than one occasion from some point in the strip due to the intensity of attacks on Khan Yunis and Deir El. Balah, a refugee camp in the centre, the UN humanitarian agency said in its latest report this Sunday. There, tents are littered with plastic debris and clothes hanging outside and people struggle to get at least one meal a day.

The health ministry of the Hamas government in Gaza assured that troops had captured a hospital in Khan Younis, Al Zair, and arrested medical personnel. There is only one exit in the city, Al Nasser, where you can see in the photos that injured people are being treated on the ground due to lack of space. Ahmed al Madhoul, a journalist at the hospital, released a video showing some people digging in the compound to bury the dead, despite the danger of abandoning it, as happened at the capital’s Al Shifa hospital in November. Gaza. “It is very difficult to leave the compound and go to the cemetery and bury them, because we are surrounded and anyone who leaves the compound is attacked,” Abdelkarim Ahmed, one of the participants in the burial, told Reuters agency. ” Officials claim that 40 bodies have been buried there.

Apart from this, there is also Al Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis. The Palestinian Red Crescent has claimed control of the city. The Palestinian Red Crescent estimates there are dozens of other victims it cannot reach and reports it has lost contact with its teams. According to the balance released this Monday by the government’s Health Ministry, deaths since the beginning of the war as a result of the Hamas attack on October 7 have reached 25,295 this Monday, of which 190 in the last 24 hours. Hamas in Gaza. About 80% are minors and women.

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The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, announced this Sunday that “the operation in Khan Yunis will be expanded to more sites.” “Until we achieve our goals, the skies over Gaza will remain covered with clouds of smoke,” he said.

Division

The advance of Israeli troops on their way comes amid growing internal divisions. Although the majority of the country’s Jewish population supports the war, increasing questions are being raised over the management of the campaign. In particular, on behalf of the relatives of the 136 hostages remaining in Gaza, who have stepped up protests after several days of information about a second exchange carried out in November – to the extent of incursions by force this Monday and With banners at a meeting of the Parliament’s Finance Committee in Jerusalem. “This can’t go on like this! “You’re sitting here while our children are dying!” one of them shouted while security personnel tried to stop him. The group attacked the MPs with banners and photographs of kidnapped people. Shame on you!” or “What about paying a price to free the hostages?”

The forum representing the families issued a statement stating that “anger and agitation” in Parliament could have been avoided and expressed its wish that “elected representatives should not focus on any issue other than the return of the families “Hostages whose time is running out.”

The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met this Monday with a group of relatives of the abducted people and issued a statement in which he reported on an Israeli initiative for their release, about which he “cannot explain in detail”, and Insisted that it did not exist. ” “An authentic Hamas proposal, contrary to what is being said.” He was referring to reports that Qatar and Egypt are pushing for a ceasefire that would include the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza for a period of 90 days.

The message contradicts his words on Sunday, in which he said “Hamas calls for an end to the war” in exchange for the release of the hostages. He rejected this on the grounds that it would mean that the deaths of approximately 200 Israeli soldiers in Gaza during the offensive (the army announced three more this Monday) would be “pointless.”

early elections

The incident also comes amid growing calls for early elections, the first proposal to subject Netanyahu to a no-confidence vote since the war began. It was presented by Merav Mizeli, the leader of the Labor Party (which has not joined the concentration government), who will leave office in April. Reason: Exactly “the failure of the Israeli government to return the 136 hostages.”

The initiative received only 18 votes out of 120 and was boycotted by the Executive delegates, who called it a “political farce in wartime”. Yesh Atid, the party of previous Prime Minister Yair Lapid, did not support it despite being in the opposition, considering it untimely, but this Monday reiterated its call for Netanyahu to sit with him as leader. Opposition, to “set a date” for early elections. This is a demand that is increasingly present in protests.

Since the war began, all polls indicate that Netanyahu could not renew his original government coalition with the ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalists, which he formed in December 2022. The latest from Channel 12 points in the same direction: his party, Likud, will drop half of the 32 seats, while National Unity, the formation of former Defense Minister Benny Gantz (today in the Concentration Executive), will go from 12 to 37. Will increase at the price of Lapid, which will fall from 24 to 14.

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