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KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel struck targets in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, intensifying a fresh offensive after a week-long ceasefire with Hamas and renewing concerns about civilian casualties. Was born.
At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since then The fighting started again on Friday morningThe United States urged ally Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
“This is going to be very important going forward,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after a meeting with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai. Finishing my third Middle East tour Ever since the war started. “It’s something we’re going to look at very closely.”
Many of Israel’s strikes on Saturday were focused on the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza, where the army said it struck more than 50 Hamas positions with airstrikes, tank fire and its navy.
According to the United Nations, the military had dropped leaflets the day before warning residents to leave, but there were no reports of large numbers of people leaving as of late Friday.
“There is no place to go,” lamented Imad Hajar, who fled the northern town of Beit Lahiya with his wife and three children to seek refuge in Khan Younis a month ago.
“They kicked us out of the northAnd now they are pressuring us to leave the South.”
Israel’s military said it also carried out attacks in the north and hit more than 400 targets in the Gaza Strip.
About 2 million people – almost the entire population of Gaza – are trapped in the south of the territory, where Israel urged people to move at the beginning of the war and has since vowed to increase its ground attack, Unable to get into northern Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only defense is to move within the 220-square-kilometre (85-square-mile) zone.
In response to US calls to protect civilians, the Israeli military released an online map, but it has done more to confuse than help.
It divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, randomly drawn parcels, sometimes across streets or blocks, and asks residents to know the number of their location in case of eventual evacuation.
“The publication does not specify where people should go,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian Territory said in its daily report. “It is unclear how people living in Gaza will be able to access the map without electricity and amid frequent telecommunications cuts.”
Egypt has expressed concern that the renewed attack could harm Palestinians try to enter its territory, In a statement late Friday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the forced transfer of Palestinians “is a red line.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Dubai on Saturday For the COP28 climate conferenceAccording to the White House, it was expected to outline proposals to “center Palestinian voices” with regional leaders in planning the next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict. The administration of US President Joe Biden has been emphasizing the need for an eventual two-state solution with Israel and the Palestinian state co-existing.
Renewed hostility has also increased Concern for 136 hostages Who, according to the Israeli military, are still held captive by Hamas and other terrorists after the release of 105 during the armistice, For the families of the remaining hostages, the breakdown of the ceasefire was a blow to hopes that their loved ones could be freed after days of watching others being freed. The Israeli military said Friday it had confirmed the deaths of four more hostages, bringing the total known dead to seven.
During the ceasefire, Israel releases 240 Palestinians From its prisons. Most of the people released from both sides were women and children.
the war began After the October 7 attacks by Hamas and other militants, which killed approximately 1,200 peoplein southern Israel, mostly civilians, and took about 240 people captive.
Following the end of the ceasefire, militants in Gaza resumed firing rockets into Israel, and fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah militants operating on the northern border with Lebanon.
humanitarian aid halted
hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza Khan Yunis and other parts of the south at the start of the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that displaced three-quarters of the population and led to widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.
According to the United Nations, since the resumption of hostilities, no aid convoys or fuel deliveries have entered Gaza, and humanitarian operations within Gaza have largely halted.
The International Rescue Committee, an aid group active in Gaza, warned that a return to fighting would “undo even the minimal relief provided by the ceasefire” and “prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians.”
Until the ceasefire started, More than 13,300 Palestinians were killed In Israel’s attack, about two-thirds of them were women and minors, According to the Ministry of Health In Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The death toll is likely much higher, as authorities have updated the count only sporadically since November 11. The ministry says thousands more people are feared dead under the debris.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas activists and holds terrorists responsible for civilian casualties, accusing them of operating in residential areas. Israel says 77 of its soldiers have been killed in a ground attack in northern Gaza. Without providing any evidence it claims that it has killed thousands of terrorists.
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Magdy reported from Cairo, emerging from Bangkok.
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full ap coverage https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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