Palestinian Territories — The United Nations told AFP on Thursday that the Israeli military ordered people taking refuge in their shelter hit with deadly tank fire in southern Khan Yunis to leave by the following afternoon.
A spokeswoman for UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, confirmed testimony from displaced people in the shelter who said the army gave them until 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Friday to flee.
“The army called the UNRWA official through the loudspeaker, she went over to them next to the tanks, and they told her to notify us to vacate the premises by 5 pm tomorrow,” said Amal Lubbad, a displaced Gazan at the facility.
“We don’t know where we’ll go.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment when asked by AFP about the forced displacement.
Twelve people were killed Wednesday when two tank shells struck the shelter, where thousands had taken refuge, UNRWA said.
“Over 75 injuries, 15 of whom are in a critical condition,” Thomas White, the agency’s Gaza director, said in a statement.
The majority of Gaza’s population — 1.7 million out of 2.4 million — have been forced from their homes with vast numbers cramming into UN shelters.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said Wednesday’s bombardment was a “blatant disregard of basic rules of war”.
The compound had been clearly marked as a UN facility and its coordinates shared with Israeli authorities, he said on X, formerly Twitter.
Asked about the tank fire, the Israeli army said “a thorough review of the operations of the forces in the vicinity is underway”, adding it was examining the possibility that the strike was a “result of Hamas fire”.
The Israeli army is the only force known to have tanks operating in the Gaza Strip.
The United States also condemned the bombardment, with State Department spokesman Vedant Patel saying “civilians must be protected and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected”.
Israeli forces kill 20 Palestinians waiting for aid
The health ministry said Israeli forces on Thursday killed 20 people waiting for humanitarian aid to be distributed on the outskirts of Gaza City.
“The Israeli occupation committed a new massacre against thousands of hungry mouths who were waiting for humanitarian aid at the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza, claiming 20 martyrs and 150 wounded,” said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.
In a separate statement, Hamas claimed the incident amounted to a “horrific war crime”.
“Zionist forces deliberately and directly bombarded a gathering of citizens who were waiting to receive aid,” it said.
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said they were killed by “artillery shells and missiles”, a claim AFP was unable to verify independently.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
The casualties were brought to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where bodies were seen lying on the floor, an AFP journalist said.
Crowds of people gathered around the injured with pools of blood collecting on the floor.
Relentless
Hamas said dozens were killed in heavy bombardment and urban combat..
An AFP journalist said the bombardment of Khan Yunis was relentless, with strikes hitting every few minutes.
Gaza health ministry said at least 50 people were killed in Khan Yunis over the past 24 hours. The army said several fighters were killed in “close-quarters combat” in the city, and that strikes also targeted fighters in central and northern Gaza.
At Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting, AFPTV footage showed graves with the names of those buried scrawled on them in crayon amid debris-strewn streets and pockmarked buildings.
“Those look like graves, but they are not proper ones,” said Ahmad Abdul Salam, a resident of the city’s Al-Maghazi refugee camp. “We buried whole families, who were wiped out, inside these mass graves.”
– ‘Terrified’ hospital staff –
Thomas White, the Gaza director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), denounced “persistent attacks on civilian sites” in Khan Yunis as “utterly unacceptable”.
Intense fighting near hospitals in Khan Yunis had “effectively encircled these facilities, leaving terrified staff, patients and displaced people trapped inside”, he said in a statement.
Asked about the shelling, the Israeli army said “a thorough review of the operations of the forces in the vicinity is underway”, adding it was examining the possibility that the strike was a “result of Hamas fire”.
The Israeli military is the only force known to have tanks operating in the Gaza Strip.
The United States also condemned the bombardment, with State Department spokesman Vedant Patel saying “civilians must be protected and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected”.
Israeli protestsÂ
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced mounting calls for a ceasefire, with domestic pressure intensifying after 24 soldiers were killed Monday in the army’s deadliest single day since it launched its Gaza ground operations.
In Tel Aviv, Israeli protesters carried a banner saying: “Stop the bloodshed,” and blocked a road during a demonstration to demand a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas.
“We came to say to the government: ‘It’s enough.’ We want all the hostages back home, we want a ceasefire now,” said protester Sapir Sluzker Amran.
“There is no military solution, only a diplomatic solution — only agreements will bring the hostages back.”
Netanyahu, however, has been adamant the war will continue, telling parliament on Wednesday that the fighting would persist until the “aggression and evil” of Hamas were destroyed.
“This is a war for our home,” he said.
US President Joe Biden’s Middle East envoy Brett McGurk was in the region for talks aimed at brokering a new deal to free the remaining captives in exchange for a pause in fighting.
A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said a Hamas delegation had travelled to Cairo this week to meet Egypt’s intelligence chief and discuss new ceasefire proposals.
– Kamikaze drones –
Egypt and Qatar have acted as mediators in the conflict, including in November, when a brief truce agreement led to the release of 105 hostages.
But Netanyahu was allegedly caught on tape telling hostages’ families this week that Qatar’s mediation was “problematic”, blaming it for funding Hamas.
The Gulf state said it was “appalled” at the remarks, which “if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives”.
The Gaza war has sparked fears of a wider escalation, with a surge in violence involving Iran-aligned Hamas allies across the Middle East.
On Thursday, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it attacked Israeli air defense systems across the border with one-way drones.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli shelling and air strikes targeted villages in the border area.
The UN’s International Court of Justice will on Friday hand down its initial ruling on a genocide case brought against Israel by South Africa.
The ruling could potentially order Israel to stop its Gaza military campaign, although the Hague-based court has little power to enforce its judgements.
Netanyahu has already hinted he would not feel bound by any ICJ order, saying on January 14 that “no-one will stop us — not even The Hague”.
Blinken renews call for protecting civilians
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed calls for Israel to protect civilians after a deadly strike on a UN shelter in Gaza that brought rare US condemnation.
Two tank shells struck the UN shelter Wednesday in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis, killing 12 people, according to the United Nations.
On a visit to Angola, Blinken told reporters that the UN shelter “is essential and it has to be protected”.
“We have reaffirmed this with the government of Israel and it is my understanding that they are, as is necessary and appropriate, looking into this incident,” Blinken said, without saying at what level discussions took place.