2023-12-04 12:22:51
Dozens of Israeli tanks entered the besieged south of the Gaza Strip this Monday, December 4, where the army is expanding its ground offensive against Hamas despite the presence of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Engaged in a ground offensive since October 27 in the north of Gaza, the Israeli army has increased, since the resumption of fighting on December 1 after seven days of truce, air raids in the South, claiming to now extend its operations “across the entire Gaza Strip”.
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“The army operates wherever Hamas has strongholds”declared Sunday evening its spokesperson, Daniel Hagari.
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This Monday, dozens of Israeli tanks, troop transports and bulldozers entered southern Gaza, near the large town of Khan Younes, witnesses told AFP. Amine Abou Hola, 59, said these vehicles entered “to a depth of 2 kilometers”in the village of Al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younes. “The tanks are now on the Salaheddine road”which crosses the Gaza Strip from north to south, added Moaz Mohammed, 34.
137 hostages in the Gaza Strip
At the same time, several sources of tension in the Middle East are worrying the international community, after incidents on Sunday in the Red Sea and in Iraq, while violence has increased since the start of the war in the occupied West Bank and on the border between Israel and Lebanon. .
The Hamas Ministry of Health said on Sunday that 15,523 people, including 70% women and children, have been killed since the start of Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip, carried out in response to the bloody attack launched on the 7th. October by the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israel.
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In Israel, the attack left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, according to the authorities. In retaliation, Israel declared war on Hamas and promised to destroy the Islamist movement, in power since 2007 in the territory.
The army announced on Monday that three soldiers were killed on Sunday in northern Gaza, bringing the total to 75 soldiers dead since the start of the ground offensive. A total of 401 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7, according to the army.
In addition, according to the army, 137 hostages kidnapped in Israel on October 7 are still in the hands of Hamas or affiliated groups, after the release during the truce of 105 hostages, including 80 released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Khan Younes bombed
In the south of the territory, strikes have massively targeted Khan Younès and its surroundings since Friday, where every day now the army warns in leaflets dropped on certain neighborhoods that a “terrible attack is imminent”and orders the inhabitants to leave.
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On Sunday, residents fled the city, on foot, piled into carts or by car, their belongings piled on the roof, according to AFP images.
Since the start of the war, hundreds of thousands of residents of the Gaza Strip have massed in the South, fleeing the fighting or responding to the orders of the Israeli army which now controls several sectors in the North.
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While most hospitals in the North are out of service, those in the South are plunged into chaos, overwhelmed by the number of injured, without electricity, their fuel reserves to run the generators almost dry.
Early this Monday, the Israeli army also launched operations in different sectors of the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, notably in Jenin, where around thirty military vehicles were deployed, according to the Palestinian Wafa agency.
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