Israel sends tanks into central Gaza's Deir Al-Balah for the first time

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7 days ago

Israeli tanks have pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be held.
Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and which came a day after the military ordered residents to leave, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants.
The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis.
Thousands of displaced people are living in Deir Al-Balah, including Medical Aid for Palestinian (MAP) staff.
MAP's Interim CEO Steve Cutts said the latest forced displacement order is "yet another attack on humanitarian operations" and a "deliberate attempt to sever the last remaining threads of Gaza's health and aid system".
He said that MAP had to suspend critical services provided to the Palestinian population, including a primary health clinic serving hundreds of civilians every day.
"With Israel's systematic targeting of health and aid workers, no-one is safe," he said.
"Not only are we prevented from carrying out our lifesaving work to support Palestinians, we are also unable to protect our own teams."
In Khan Younis earlier on Monday, an Israeli air strike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children in a tent, medics said.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Israel's military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing "to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area".
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there.
At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them.
The military escalation comes as Gaza health officials warned of potential "mass deaths" in the coming days due to mounting hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, according to the territory's health ministry.
Health officials said hospitals were running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations.
Health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day, and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion because of hunger.
At least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday as they waited for UN aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza to remove what it said was "an immediate threat".
It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it "certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks".
The new raid and escalating number of fatalities appeared to be complicating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with US backing.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday that the militant group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the enclave, and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks underway in Qatar.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough.
UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff as food prices have increased 40-fold.
"Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale," it said in a post on social media site X.
Israel's military said on Sunday that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community".
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
Reuters/ABC