What we know about the Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, which has reportedly left hundreds dead

The toll continues to rise. According to local emergency services, several hundred people have been killed in two weeks in the Israeli military offensive in northern Gaza, as Israel continues to strike Hamas in the Palestinian territory. Here’s what we know about these operations.

What is the objective of Israeli operations?

The Israeli army has been conducting an air and ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip since October 6, claiming that Hamas is trying to rebuild its forces there. On Sunday it announced that it had carried out operations in the “north, center and south” of the territory and had “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close ground combat and air strikes”.

Despite the devastating blow dealt by the death of its leader, Yahya Sinouar, Hamas said Friday that the fight against Israel will continue “until the liberation of Palestine.” The Islamist organization insisted that the hostages would not be released before the “stop” of the Israeli offensive in Gaza which has cost the lives of at least 42,603 ​​Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to a report by the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health.

What is the result?

Civil Protection reported on Saturday evening a strike that caused at least 73 deaths in a residential area of ​​Beit Lahia, in the north of the Palestinian territory. He said rescuers were still searching for survivors but did not have the equipment to search the area. The IDF said it had targeted a Hamas “terrorist target” and assured that the assessment provided by the Gaza authorities “did not correspond” to the information in its possession.

Before this attack, Civil Protection had counted “more than 400 deaths”, including women and children, in northern Gaza since the start of the offensive launched by the Israeli army on October 6.

“Every day, every hour, there is a massacre. This is what our life has become, we have become the living dead,” Nasser, a Palestinian, testified outside the al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah (center), where the victims were transported. The director of the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia (north), Marouane Sultan, accused the Israeli army of bombing his plant. “Israeli tanks surrounded the hospital, cut the electricity and fired live ammunition. » Two patients died, according to the Hamas health ministry.

How did the international community react?

Meeting in Italy on Saturday, G7 defense ministers called for “a significant and lasting increase” in humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. They also called on “Iran to refrain from providing support to Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis (Yemeni rebels) and other non-state actors, and to refrain from taking additional measures that could trigger an uncontrolled escalation process.”

The United Nations’ acting humanitarian chief, Joyce Msuya, denounced on Saturday the “indescribable horrors” suffered by Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip. The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for its part called on Israeli forces to “immediately stop the attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza”. “This is purely and simply a collective punishment imposed on Palestinians in Gaza who must choose between forced displacement or death. There is a fear that this will never end,” said Anna Halford, emergency coordinator for MSF in Gaza. “Israel’s allies bear a heavy responsibility for this situation created by unwavering support for the war,” he said.