“The Israeli military is continuous and increasing the bottom operation in opposition to the Hamas presence in each a part of the Gaza Strip,” Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari mentioned at a briefing Sunday.
Earlier, the top of the Israel Protection Forces, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, instructed reservists with the Gaza Division that the warfare in opposition to Hamas was shifting south — and that the combat can be simply as fierce because it was within the north. “Simply as we did it strongly and completely within the northern Gaza Strip, we’re additionally doing it now within the southern Gaza Strip,” he mentioned.
However assist companies and fleeing Palestinians say the scattered strike places and combined messages from Israel about the place to go have sown panic and confusion, leaving households no clear path to security amid intense bombardment and a dire humanitarian disaster.
The Gaza Well being Ministry on Sunday counted no less than 316 individuals killed and an extra 664 wounded prior to now 24 hours, including that the quantity was prone to rise as our bodies have been retrieved from the rubble. Greater than 15,500 individuals have been killed and greater than 41,000 wounded in Gaza because the warfare started, the ministry mentioned Sunday.
“We’re killed twice. As soon as due to bombing and destruction, and once more due to harsh dwelling situations, worry and terror,” mentioned Emad, a 56-year-old schoolteacher who declined to offer his final identify due to security considerations. He mentioned his giant household, staying at a shelter in central Khan Younis, had already relocated 4 instances. “They instructed us to maneuver south, and we moved. Now there is no such thing as a farther than that. The place will we go?”
The place to go is the important thing query for Palestinians in Gaza, with an estimated 1.8 million individuals — or 80 p.c of the inhabitants — now internally displaced, in accordance with the U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Underneath more and more public stress from the Biden administration and different Western allies over the excessive civilian toll, Israel posted maps on-line that it mentioned would higher assist Palestinians make their solution to a “safer” zone. However assist teams and displaced households say the grids lack specifics and direct individuals to areas which might be inaccessible, overcrowded or below assault.
Leaflets embrace a QR code for extra data, however a lot of the enclave is working in near-blackout situations, with sporadic cellphone or web service.
“I can not overstate the worry, panic & confusion that these Israeli maps are inflicting civilians in #Gaza, together with my very own workers,” Melanie Ward, head of the reduction group Medical Assist for Palestinians, posted on X, previously Twitter. “Folks can not run from place to position to attempt to escape Israel’s bombs, nor does worldwide legislation count on them to. What’s being completed is unconscionable.”
Within the maps, Israel designated about 25 p.c of the Gaza Strip for evacuation, in accordance with OCHA. The help company mentioned one of many zones — a roughly 27-square-mile space east of Khan Younis — was dwelling to about 352,000 individuals earlier than the beginning of the battle.
In current days, Biden administration officers have issued pointed requires Israel to do extra to keep away from civilian casualties within the almost two-month-old warfare, which erupted Oct. 7 after Hamas militants killed no less than 1,200 individuals and kidnapped scores of others in a devastating assault inside Israel.
Israel responded with army operations which have turned Gaza into what U.N. Secretary Common António Guterres has referred to as “hell on earth,” with girls and youngsters representing about 70 p.c of the useless.
Israel laments the dimensions of the lack of civilian life in Gaza however holds Hamas accountable for it, authorities spokesman Eylon Levy mentioned Sunday.
“The Israeli military has made each effort upholding our obligations below worldwide legislation to get civilians out of hurt’s manner,” he mentioned.
On Sunday, native journalists in Khan Younis posted footage exhibiting frantic efforts to retrieve casualties after strikes within the metropolis. The movies confirmed collapsed buildings and houses sheared of their facades. Males with bloodied, limp youngsters of their arms have been filmed racing towards an ambulance.
The pinnacle of the World Well being Group, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, referred to as the heavy bombardment “petrifying” in a submit late Saturday on X. A WHO group that visited Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, he wrote, discovered the ability packed to a few instances its capability, with sufferers “receiving care on the ground, screaming in ache.”
In northern Gaza, too, bloody scenes adopted strikes on the Jabalya refugee camp and within the Shejaiya neighborhood east of Gaza Metropolis.
Al Jazeera reported that a whole residential block of the Jabalya camp was leveled Sunday, burying dozens of individuals. Footage from native journalists confirmed individuals on the camp, a frequent goal of strikes, choosing by the smoking wreckage for survivors or corpses.
In Shejaiya, residents and rescue staff have been nonetheless working to retrieve casualties from strikes Saturday that killed or injured tons of, Palestinian officers mentioned. Israel mentioned it killed a neighborhood Hamas army commander, Wissam Farhat, within the assault, and mentioned Sunday that it will proceed operations there.
Reached by cellphone, Mohammad, a 43-year-old resident who requested to have his final identify withheld for safety causes, mentioned his aunt and her household have been among the many dozens feared useless in Shejaiya. He recalled listening to blasts so intense that his home “shook violently.”
After the strikes, Mohammad mentioned, he ran to assist and noticed that the three-story home the place his aunt was sheltering with about 40 different individuals was “solely below rubble.” Dozens of different houses have been destroyed, he mentioned, resulting in fears about useless or wounded individuals who stay below the particles.
“The scene was horrifying and terrifying — full destruction,” Mohammad mentioned. “Folks started digging out the our bodies.”
Humanitarian officers for weeks have privately — and generally publicly — criticized the Biden administration for not leaning on Israel extra to curb assaults they describe as disproportionate, indiscriminate and a type of collective punishment, a violation of worldwide legislation. A whole bunch of latest deaths have been reported since preventing resumed Friday after a short pause for a captive launch deal.
Talking on the sidelines of talks with Arab leaders within the United Arab Emirates over the weekend, Vice President Harris mentioned, “Too many harmless Palestinians have been killed,” and she or he referred to as the scenes from Gaza “devastating.”
To some observers, U.S. acknowledgment of the steep losses is welcomed, if late.
“Lastly, the US says what it ought to have a lot earlier,” Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, tweeted Sunday. “The bombardment was indiscriminate from week 1.”
Balousha reported from Amman, Jordan; Berger from Jerusalem; and Allam from Cairo. Kareem Fahim in Beirut, Heba Farouk Mahfouz in Cairo and Rachel Pannett in Sydney contributed to this report.