- Home
- Israel Hamas War
- Persistent Fighting in Khan Younis, New Mediation Efforts
©(AFP)
The war between Israel and Hamas entered its 113th day on Saturday, January 27. While in Gaza, Khan Younes remains the epicenter of the fighting, the Israeli government is now lashing out at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Deadly fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas raged on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians are surviving in "desperate conditions", according to the UN.
Against this backdrop, Israel vowed on Saturday to terminate the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), whose funding has so far been suspended by seven countries, following Israeli accusations that employees were involved in the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7. Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, followed in the footsteps of the United States.
Israel wants to "ensure" that UNRWA no longer plays any role in Gaza after the war, declared its head of diplomacy, Israel Katz, on Saturday, with Hamas denouncing "threats" against the agency.
UNRWA "needs support," not "cuts", said the Palestinian Authority.
[readmore url="https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/world/220986"]
The attack by Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to "annihilate" Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a vast military operation that left 26,257 killed, the vast majority of them women, children and teenagers, according to the latest death toll on Saturday from the Gaza's Ministry of Health.
The large town of Khan Younes, in southern Gaza, considered by Israel to be a stronghold of the Palestinian Islamist movement, is now at the heart of the war triggered by this attack.
Fighting continued on Saturday, according to witnesses, particularly in the vicinity of the two main hospitals, Nasser and al-Amal, which are now operating in slow motion.
A 28-year-old displaced man was killed on Saturday at the entrance to the al-Amal emergency ward by Israeli fire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
At Nasser Hospital, "short of fuel, food and supplies," there remain "currently 350 patients and 5,000 displaced persons," described Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), again calling for an "immediate ceasefire."
Some ten kilometers south of Khan Younes, more than 1.3 million displaced Gazans are massed in Rafah, cornered in "desperate conditions" against the closed border with Egypt, according to the UN.
The streets, littered with garbage and dripping with sewage, are filled with hundreds of thousands of tents, derisory shelters against the torrential rains, according to an AFP journalist.
Along the roadsides, dozens of traders were selling aid brought into the besieged territory at double the price, including canned goods, mattresses and blankets.
The city has not been spared by the bombs either. "There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip. Everything that is said is false", says Mohammed al-Chaer, a resident of the town, in his devastated neighborhood.
On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest court, called on Israel to prevent any possible act of "genocide" in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid to enter. However, the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions.
As the war continues unabated, Qatar, Egypt and the United States are attempting to mediate a new truce, which would include the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners.
Some 250 people were kidnapped in Israel during the October 7 attack and taken to Gaza, of whom around 100 were released at the end of November during a truce. According to the Israeli authorities, 132 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip, including 28 presumed dead.
[readmore url="https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/world/221092"]
The director of the CIA, the US intelligence service, will meet "in the next few days in Paris" with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts, as well as with the Qatari Prime Minister, to try to conclude a truce agreement, according to a security source.
Several thousand people also took part in rallies in Israel on Saturday evening, notably in the center of Tel Aviv, to demand the return of the hostages and the resignation of the government with a view to holding elections.
But in a televised address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again hammered home his determination: "If we don't eliminate the Hamas terrorists (...) the next massacre is only a matter of time," he asserted.
With AFP
Deadly fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas raged on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians are surviving in "desperate conditions", according to the UN.
Against this backdrop, Israel vowed on Saturday to terminate the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), whose funding has so far been suspended by seven countries, following Israeli accusations that employees were involved in the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7. Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, followed in the footsteps of the United States.
Israel wants to "ensure" that UNRWA no longer plays any role in Gaza after the war, declared its head of diplomacy, Israel Katz, on Saturday, with Hamas denouncing "threats" against the agency.
UNRWA "needs support," not "cuts", said the Palestinian Authority.
[readmore url="https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/world/220986"]
The attack by Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to "annihilate" Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a vast military operation that left 26,257 killed, the vast majority of them women, children and teenagers, according to the latest death toll on Saturday from the Gaza's Ministry of Health.
Khan Younis under fire
The large town of Khan Younes, in southern Gaza, considered by Israel to be a stronghold of the Palestinian Islamist movement, is now at the heart of the war triggered by this attack.
Fighting continued on Saturday, according to witnesses, particularly in the vicinity of the two main hospitals, Nasser and al-Amal, which are now operating in slow motion.
A 28-year-old displaced man was killed on Saturday at the entrance to the al-Amal emergency ward by Israeli fire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
At Nasser Hospital, "short of fuel, food and supplies," there remain "currently 350 patients and 5,000 displaced persons," described Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), again calling for an "immediate ceasefire."
"No safe place"
Some ten kilometers south of Khan Younes, more than 1.3 million displaced Gazans are massed in Rafah, cornered in "desperate conditions" against the closed border with Egypt, according to the UN.
The streets, littered with garbage and dripping with sewage, are filled with hundreds of thousands of tents, derisory shelters against the torrential rains, according to an AFP journalist.
Along the roadsides, dozens of traders were selling aid brought into the besieged territory at double the price, including canned goods, mattresses and blankets.
The city has not been spared by the bombs either. "There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip. Everything that is said is false", says Mohammed al-Chaer, a resident of the town, in his devastated neighborhood.
Attempted mediation
On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest court, called on Israel to prevent any possible act of "genocide" in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid to enter. However, the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions.
As the war continues unabated, Qatar, Egypt and the United States are attempting to mediate a new truce, which would include the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners.
Some 250 people were kidnapped in Israel during the October 7 attack and taken to Gaza, of whom around 100 were released at the end of November during a truce. According to the Israeli authorities, 132 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip, including 28 presumed dead.
[readmore url="https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/world/221092"]
The director of the CIA, the US intelligence service, will meet "in the next few days in Paris" with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts, as well as with the Qatari Prime Minister, to try to conclude a truce agreement, according to a security source.
Several thousand people also took part in rallies in Israel on Saturday evening, notably in the center of Tel Aviv, to demand the return of the hostages and the resignation of the government with a view to holding elections.
But in a televised address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again hammered home his determination: "If we don't eliminate the Hamas terrorists (...) the next massacre is only a matter of time," he asserted.
With AFP
This Is Beirut
Comments