Israel announced today that it carried out an early morning raid in the southern area of the Gaza Strip, in confirmation that the focus of the conflict is beginning to expand, a day after carrying out an attack against a UN school for displaced people in the north. of the enclave that killed 15 people and injured 70 others.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they carried out a nighttime “limited incursion” into the southern Gaza Strip, as troops continued to advance their offensive against Hamas in the northern part of the enclave, the Times reported. of Israel.
The operation, carried out by combat engineering forces and tanks, led by the Gaza Division, consisted of mapping buildings and clearing the area of planted explosive devices, the IDF said.
During the operation the troops encountered a Hamas cell that came out of a tunnel and the troops bombed the agents and killed them, the Israeli newspaper added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip reported an attack on a school converted into a UN shelter for displaced people, while international outrage grew over yesterday’s bombing outside a hospital against a convoy of ambulances.
Yesterday, a bombing against another school converted into a shelter for displaced people in the north of the Strip left 20 dead and dozens injured, according to the Islamist movement.
In addition to schools, Israel also attacked hospitals and ambulances in the Gaza Strip, arguing that it is targeting Hamas military targets that use those places as hideouts.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 16 of the 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are out of service, some because they were bombed and others because they do not have fuel to run their generators.
“I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement, adding that “the images of bodies strewn in the street outside the hospital are heartbreaking.
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on the social network .
In parallel, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, held meetings today with leaders of Arab countries in Jordan after passing through Israel and before traveling to Turkey tomorrow, seeking to negotiate a humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip.
During his visit to Amman, Blinken reiterated his support for establishing a temporary ceasefire to be able to send humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
“The United States estimates that these efforts will be facilitated by humanitarian pauses,” Blinken highlighted in Jordan, referring to the need to protect civilians and accelerate the delivery of aid to the enclave, the AFP news agency reported.
Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel today for consultation, thus joining the governments of Colombia, Chile, Honduras and Jordan, while Bahrain and Bolivia went further and broke diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Israeli authorities insist that they will continue with their operation until the threats are eliminated, without setting a date or clear objectives for a battery of operations that began after the surprise Hamas attack on October 7, which left more than 1,400 dead in Israeli territory.
In the Gaza Strip, the death toll is close to 9,500, according to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas.
Source: Ambito
