Intense fighting in south Gaza as Israel vows to shut out UN agency

 

The Israeli military is targeting the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, and on Saturday, fierce fighting erupted in the Gaza city of Khan Yunis, forcing civilians to escape even farther south.

Unrelenting violence coincided with rising animosity between Israel and UNRWA, the organization that oversees humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by conflict.

The agency announced on Friday that it had fired a number of employees who Israel claimed had been involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas, prompting the suspension of funds from several important donor nations.

Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, stated on Saturday that Israel wished to guarantee that the United Nations organization, which offered health, education, and other services to Palestinians in Gaza, "will not be part of the day after" the most devastating conflict to have occurred in the region.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) of the UN declared one day prior that Israel was required to stop potential acts of genocide in the conflict and to permit aid to enter the country, but it refrained from advocating for a ceasefire.

Israel launched its military campaign shortly after Hamas's October 7 onslaught, which, according to an AFP compilation of official numbers, claimed 1,140 lives in Israel, the majority of them civilians.

About 250 hostages were also taken by militants; according to Israel, 132 of them are still in Gaza, along with the bodies of at least 28 deceased captives.

Israel has sworn to destroy Hamas, and the group that ruled The Israeli military onslaught, according to Gaza's health ministry, has killed at least 26,257 individuals, the majority of them being women and children.

Sewage in the streets 

Since Israel started its military operations in Gaza, the army claims that at least 220 troops have died. These operations are currently concentrated in Khan Yunis, which is the southern hometown of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza.

On Saturday, the Israeli military announced that many terrorists had been killed "from close range" near Khan Yunis and that weapons had been discovered during a raid on a Sinwar associate's home.

Special forces, in a separate operation “raided a weapons warehouse” in the Khan Yunis area where they found guns and ammunition, the army said.

Palestinians are fleeing the fighting, adding to the number already crowded into Rafah, near the Egyptian border, where the United Nations says most of Gaza’s estimated 1.7 million displaced have converged.

They live in the street, where sewage flows, amid “conditions of desperation conducive to a complete breakdown in order,” said Ajith Sunghay of the UN Human Rights Office.

AFPTV images showed people wading through ankle-deep water around tent-like plastic shelters in Rafah, where bombardment still threatens.

“There is nowhere safe in the Gaza Strip,” said Mohammed al-Shaer, inside an apartment whose wall had been blown out, leaving rubble on the floor around a child’s bed.

At least 135 people were killed in Khan Yunis Sunday night, according to the health ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

According to experts consulted by AFP, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unwavering commitment to destroy Hamas is becoming less and less accepted by his war cabinet as a means of freeing the hostages detained in Gaza.

There have been increasing calls for early elections and protests in response to his inability to return the detainees, more of which happened on Saturday night.

Criticism of UN 

An extensive ruling on whether or not genocide has occurred may take years, but the ICJ's ruling was predicated on an urgent application filed by South Africa, a nation that has long supported the Palestinian cause.

"This is the first time the international community has told Israel that its actions are unacceptable," stated Maha Yasin, a 42-year-old Gaza refugee.

The Algerian foreign ministry announced the meeting and said that the UN Security Council will meet on Wednesday to give the ruling of the ICJ "binding effect."

Throughout the conflict, Israel has frequently criticized the UN.

The already tense relations between Israel and UNRWA had taken a turn for the worst when the organization denounced the Wednesday bombing of one of its shelters in Khan Yunis, which resulted in the deaths of thirteen people.

The United States, UNRWA's biggest donor, announced on Friday that it was stopping funding after the organization revealed the dismissal of multiple workers. Following were Britain, Finland, Canada, Australia, and Italy among other benefactors.

Although the Palestinian Authority stated that UNRWA need "maximum support" from donors, Hamas urged the international world to disregard Israel's "threats" to stop the organization from operating in Gaza.

The major hospital in the city, Nasser Hospital, and a refugee camp in Khan Yunis were the targets of a "massive tank bombardment," according to the Hamas government.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that the institution has "virtually non-existent" surgical capability.

There was "heavy gunfire and siege at Al-Amal Hospital, another Khan Yunis hospital," according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Later on, it was revealed that a man was shot and killed by Israeli forces near the hospital's emergency door.

Hamas disputes Israeli military accusations that it operates from tunnels beneath Gaza hospitals and utilizes the medical facilities as command centers.