Gaza: Israel tanks advance into Deir al-Balah city for first time
The neighbourhoods contain dozens of camps for displaced families as well as aid warehouses, health clinics, and critical water infrastructure.Latest updates from GazaIsraeli forces kill 67 Palestinians seeking aid in northern Gaza, Hamas-run ministry saysIsrael levelling thousands of Gaza civilian buildings in controlled demolitions
Local journalists told the BBC that Israeli tanks and other military vehicles pushed into eastern Deir al-Balah on Monday from the direction of the Kissufim crossing and under the cover of heavy artillery and air strikes.Dozens of shells struck the Abu al-Ajin and Hikr al-Jami areas, they said.Night-time footage shared on social media showed explosions and the sound of gunfire.Local medics said several people there had been killed by shelling.
A spokeswoman for the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), which operates a clinic in Deir al-Balah, described the situation as "extremely critical"."Shelling is taking place all around our office, and military vehicles are just 400m away from our colleagues and their families, who endured a harrowing night after relocating there," Mai Elawawda said in a statement."One colleague shared that the area is filled with shelling and quadcopter strikes, and there's growing fear about both staying and attempting to leave."On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered the immediate evacuation of six city blocks in southern Deir al-Balah, warning that it would be operating "with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure".The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday night that hundreds of families had already fled in response.It said the evacuation order covered about 5.6 sq km (2.2 sq miles) of Deir al-Balah, spanning four neighbourhoods which were home to between 50,000 and 80,000 people, including 30,000 who were sheltering in 57 camps for displaced families.OCHA said UN staff were remaining in Deir al-Balah, spread across dozens of premises whose co-ordinates had been shared with Israel, and stressed that they must be protected.The affected areas house several aid warehouses, four primary health clinics, four medical points, a water desalination plant, three water wells, a water reservoir, a solid waste dumping site, and a wastewater pumping station, it added."Any damage to this infrastructure will have life-threatening consequences," it said.OCHA said the order would also limit the ability of the UN and its partners to move safely and effectively within Gaza, "choking humanitarian access when it is needed most".Medical Aid for Palestinians said several humanitarian organisations' offices and guesthouses had been "ordered to evacuate immediately" by the Israeli military.Nine clinics including MAP's Solidarity Polyclinic - which alone cared for around 320 patients a day - had been shut down, it added. Five shelters and a community kitchen had also closed.
The UN and other humanitarian agencies relocated key parts of their operations to Deir al-Balah after Israeli ground forces entered the southern city of Rafah more than a year ago.Israeli sources say that the possible presence of Israeli hostages held by Hamas is one reason why Deir al-Balah had so far escaped the fighting. At least 20 of the 50 hostages still in captivity are believed to be still alive.It is not clear what might have changed the military's thinking.Hostages' families have expressed concern that an offensive could endanger their loved ones."Can anyone [promise] to us that this decision will not come at the cost of losing our loved ones?" they said in a statement on Sunday.Meanwhile, there are growing fears among Deir al-Balah residents that Israeli forces may be planning to establish a new military corridor that would isolate the city.The military has established four such corridors elsewhere, including the Morag corridor, which cut off Rafah, and the Magen Oz corridor, which divided Khan Younis in two.According to the UN, about 87.8% of Gaza is now covered by Israeli evacuation orders or is within Israeli-militarized zones, leaving the 2.1 million population squeezed into about 46 sq km of land where essential services have collapsed.Almost all of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once during the war, in which an estimated 92% of the territory's homes have been destroyed or damaged.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme warned Gaza's hunger crisis had "reached new levels of desperation" after more than 100 people were reportedly killed while waiting for food over the weekend.On Sunday, at least 67 people waiting for a convoy of WFP aid lorries in northern Gaza were killed by Israeli fire, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.The WFP said a crowd that surrounded the lorries shortly after it passed through the Israeli Zikim crossing point "came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire".The Israeli military said its soldiers fired warning shots at a crowd of thousands "to remove an immediate threat" but disputed the numbers killed."Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment. Nearly one person in three is not eating for days," the WFP said."Only a massive scale-up in food aid distributions can stabilise this spiralling situation, calm anxieties and rebuild the trust within communities that more food is coming."The Israeli foreign ministry said on Sunday that 4,400 lorry loads of humanitarian aid had entered Gaza from Israel since mid-May, when it partially eased a total blockade on deliveries that lasted 11 weeks. Another 700 lorry loads were waiting to be picked up by the UN from the Gaza side of its crossing points, it added.Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.Israeli attacks have since killed at least 58,895 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-controlled health ministry.
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