2024-01-20 14:20:25
Israel pounded targets along the Gaza Strip today as Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets in the southern Rafah area urging Palestinians who have sought refuge there to help locate hostages held by Hamas, residents said. .
Palestinian fighters battle tanks in an attempt to push them towards the eastern suburbs of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, where Israel has begun withdrawing troops and launching smaller-scale operations, according to residents and fighters.
Israel’s air force said its jets struck groups of militants trying to plant explosives near troops and fire rockets at tanks in northern Gaza, and it also said it had bombed targets along Gaza.
In Khan Younis, in the south, where Israel says it has expanded its operations against Hamas, witnesses said Israeli tanks shelled areas around Nasser Hospital overnight, describing the shelling as the heaviest in days. .
The dead are increasing
Nasser is currently the largest hospital operating in Gaza. Israel claims that Hamas fighters are operating from and around the hospitals, including from Nasser, which Hamas and medical staff deny, although Israel has presented videos and photographs to support its claims.
In Khan Younis, the Israeli army announced that it carried out raid on a military compounddestroying rocket launchers, while finding explosives stored in the basement, while a warplane hit two gunmen there.
For its part, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced that 165 people died and 280 were injured in the last 24 hours from the Israeli strikes, one of the heaviest death tolls in a single day in 2024.
The statement on the daily casualty count did not specify whether they were combatants or civilians. But most of the 24,927 Palestinians killed since the war began on Oct. 7 have been civilians, health officials say.
In more than 100 days of war, Israeli air, land and sea operations have reduced much of Gaza to rubble, displacing most of its population of 2.3 millionmany of whom have been forced to move constantly and seek shelter in tents that offer little protection from the elements and disease, according to the United Nations.
In Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have fled for safety, Israel dropped leaflets with photos of 33 hostages, whose names were written in the Arabic language, urging the displaced to communicate. “Do you want to go back to (your) homes?” Please call if you recognize any of them,” the flyers read.
“They are asking people for help because they cannot reach their hostages because of the resistance,” said Abu Ali, a resident of northern Gaza.
“Stop the war, Netanyahu to get your people back,” he told Reuters.
Source: APE-Reuters
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