Israel strikes Gaza as UN voices grave concern

The Israeli military mentioned it struck army websites and tunnel shafts in Jabalia, northern Gaza, and Khan Yunis within the south, as heavy floor fight continued.

Incidents linked to Iran-backed teams within the Crimson Sea, on the Lebanese border and in Iraq added to regional tensions surrounding the struggle.

Black smoke clouded the sky over central Gaza on Tuesday afternoon and, within the south, horse-drawn carts carried some victims to hospital in Khan Yunis, AFP photos confirmed.

The bloodiest-ever Gaza struggle erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,140 folks, principally civilians, in response to an AFP tally based mostly on Israeli figures.

Throughout the assault — the deadliest in Israel’s historical past — Hamas took round 250 hostages of whom 129 stay inside Gaza, Israel says.

Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and a siege adopted by a floor invasion. The marketing campaign has killed not less than 20,915 folks, principally ladies and youngsters, in response to the newest toll issued Tuesday by Gaza’s Hamas-run well being ministry.

Gaza’s 2.4 million persons are struggling dire shortages of water, meals, gas and medication, with solely restricted assist coming into.

The UN Safety Council final week, in a decision that didn’t name for a direct finish to preventing, sought “secure and unhindered supply of humanitarian help at scale”.

It requested the appointment of a UN humanitarian coordinator to supervise and confirm third-country assist to Gaza. On Tuesday the UN named Sigrid Kaag, the outgoing Dutch finance minister, to the submit and mentioned she would begin work on January 8.

After days of wrangling, the decision handed after Washington abstained. It successfully leaves Israel with operational oversight of assist deliveries.

An estimated 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced, in response to the UN, many having fled south.

Web and phone companies had been once more reduce throughout the Palestinian territory, “as a result of ongoing offensive,” introduced Gaza’s primary telecoms agency, Paltel.

“We’re gravely involved in regards to the continued bombardment of Center Gaza by Israeli forces,” significantly after the army ordered residents to maneuver to the central Gaza and Rafah areas, mentioned Seif Magango, spokesman for the UN Human Rights Workplace.

France, a staunch Israeli ally, additionally mentioned it was “gravely involved” by Israel’s vow to accentuate and lengthen preventing.

In a Wall Road Journal op-ed printed late Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that peace can solely include three stipulations: “Hamas have to be destroyed, Gaza have to be demilitarised and Palestinian society have to be deradicalised.”

On Tuesday Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi instructed a information convention that the struggle “will proceed for a lot of extra months”, some extent made earlier in December by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

The military is concentrating its efforts in Gaza’s south, Halevi mentioned.

– Watching a toddler die –

On Tuesday three extra Israeli troopers had been killed in Gaza preventing, bringing the full to 161 for the reason that floor invasion started on October 27, the army mentioned.

AFPTV photos from Beit Lahia, in Gaza’s far north, confirmed dust and rubble piled up in entrance of the Indonesian hospital. An ambulance lay deserted and destroyed, crumpled like a bit of paper.

Some residents of Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza returned to the ruins of their houses after strikes that Gaza’s well being ministry mentioned killed not less than 70 folks. AFP was unable to independently confirm that toll.

Sean Casey, a World Well being Group Emergency Medical Groups coordinator, was a part of a WHO mission to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah metropolis after the refugee camp strikes.

In a video shot contained in the hospital, Casey seemed to be preventing again tears as he described a nine-year-old boy, Ahmed, “being handled mainly with sedation to ease his struggling as he dies”, after receiving a head wound when a constructing was struck.

Solely a minority of Gaza’s hospitals are even partly functioning, says the WHO, whose Director-Common Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus repeated his “name for a direct ceasefire”.

He mentioned aid efforts “will not be coming shut” to assembly Gazans’ wants.

The Israeli military mentioned it was “reviewing the incident” at Al-Maghazi and “dedicated to worldwide legislation, together with taking possible steps to minimise hurt to civilians”.

Israel has been beneath rising strain from its allies to guard non-combatants.

– US-Israeli consultations –

Netanyahu instructed members of his conservative Likud occasion on Monday that he was able to assist the voluntary migration of civilians out of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

In a press release, Hamas rejected as “absurd” any such dialogue, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has mentioned the thought of pushing Palestinians into Egypt “is a non-starter”.

Blinken was assembly on Tuesday with Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and US Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan for consultations on “issues associated to the battle in Gaza and the return of hostages held by Hamas”, Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson mentioned.

Israel returned the our bodies of 80 Palestinians killed in Gaza after taking them from morgues and graves to test there have been no hostages amongst them, sources within the territory’s well being ministry mentioned.

There was no instant military remark.

– Regional sparks –

The influence of the struggle has rippled all through the area, with armed teams backed by Israel’s arch-foe Iran escalating exercise.

US army forces shot down greater than a dozen assault drones and a number of other missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels at delivery within the Crimson Sea, the Pentagon mentioned, reporting no injury or accidents.

The Huthis had claimed a missile strike on a vessel within the Crimson Sea and a drone assault in direction of Israel, their newest such actions in solidarity with Gaza.

Israel’s army mentioned one among its fighter jets had intercepted “within the Crimson Sea space a hostile aerial goal that was on its technique to Israeli territory”.

In Iraq, the US army launched strikes on pro-Iran teams it has blamed for quite a few assaults on US and allied forces through the Israel-Hamas struggle. 

The strike claimed not less than one life, Iraqi authorities mentioned.

An anti-tank missile fired by Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah motion wounded 9 troopers, Israel’s army mentioned, whereas Hezbollah introduced the demise of two of its fighters.

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Initially printed as Israel strikes Gaza as UN voices grave concern