A UN organization speaks of an “unprecedented tragedy” among civilians in the Gaza Strip. And a pediatrician warns that hospitals will soon become “graveyards.” The overview.
According to the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, the plight of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip continues to grow. “The scale of the tragedy is unprecedented,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
According to Egypt, around 7,000 foreign nationals from 60 countries are waiting to leave the embattled Gaza Strip. This was announced by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo. The Israeli army says it has attacked more than 12,000 targets in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7th.
Around 400 foreigners and Palestinians with dual nationality left the Gaza Strip and arrived in the Egyptian part of the Rafah border crossing, as the Egyptian Red Crescent confirmed to the German Press Agency.
Fierce fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip
In the north of the Gaza Strip there were fierce clashes between Israeli soldiers and members of Hamas during the night. The armed wing of the Islamist organization ruling the Gaza Strip, the Qassam Brigades, reported fighting in the northwest.
The Israeli army said soldiers encountered “terror cells” that attacked with anti-tank missiles, explosive devices and hand grenades. “Dozens of terrorists” were killed and Hamas infrastructure was destroyed. The military did not provide any information about casualties within its own ranks.
Israel responded with attacks in the Gaza Strip to the worst massacre in its history by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in the border area. Israeli television reported that, according to the latest information, around 3,000 terrorists were involved in the surprise attack.
Apparently 1000 more targets in sight
The Israeli military says it has now attacked 12,000 targets; on Wednesday the figure was 11,000. These included weapons depots, buildings of leading Hamas members, terrorists and rocket arsenals, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
Since the beginning of the war, the army has always emphasized that it only attacks Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. However, the high number of civilian casualties in the densely populated coastal area and the catastrophic situation for the residents are increasingly triggering international criticism.
The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war has risen to 9,061, including 3,760 children and adolescents and 2,326 women, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. The authority’s figures cannot be independently verified.
Doctor in Gaza: “Operations are carried out without anesthesia”
A senior pediatrician in the Gaza Strip warns that hospitals will soon become “graveyards.” Hussam Abu Safija, the senior pediatrician at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, told the German Press Agency: “We are doing our best, but we need better medical care, otherwise our hospitals will become cemeteries.”
Doctors would have to use primitive means to care for patients. “Some surgeries are performed without anesthesia,” he said. “To clean the wounds of injured children, I had to use chlorine mixed with water.” The hospital is out of painkillers and antibiotics. Operations would be carried out using cell phone lights.
Israel’s army chief promises fuel deliveries
According to the Israeli army chief, Israel will allow fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip under supervision if there are no longer any in the hospitals there. It has been said for more than a week that the clinics are running out of fuel, but this has not happened yet, Herzi Halevi said in a statement to journalists. “We’ll see when that day comes.” The situation is being checked every day. Israel fears Hamas will misuse the fuel.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, hospitals in the Gaza Strip can barely function. A spokesman said 16 of a total of 35 hospitals could no longer treat patients due to a lack of fuel. They need fuel for their generators to produce electricity. Other clinics could only provide very limited care, it said.
According to media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not approved any fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip, his office clarified after Halevi’s statement became known.
UNRWA: Humanitarian ceasefire long overdue
In view of the numerous civilian casualties and the tense supply situation during the Israeli attacks, the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA again called for a ceasefire. “A humanitarian ceasefire is long overdue,” said Commissioner General Lazzarini after his first visit to the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. The hardship and unsanitary living conditions are beyond imagination.
Around 270 trucks with relief supplies have now arrived
Another 55 trucks carrying urgently needed relief supplies arrived in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Red Crescent said they brought water, food and medicine across the border from Egypt. This means that a total of 272 trucks have arrived there since the beginning of the war. The delivery of fuel has not yet been approved, it said. According to UN figures, it would take 100 truckloads a day to provide the more than two million people in the embattled Gaza Strip with the essentials.
One dead in attack in West Bank
According to Israeli reports, a man was killed in an attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “Terrorists shot at a car,” the army said. According to Palestinian reports, three people were killed during Israeli military operations in the West Bank. One Palestinian was killed in Kalkilia in the north of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, and two others near Ramallah, the Health Ministry in Ramallah said.
Fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border
Fighting broke out again on the border between Lebanon and Israel. According to its own statements, the Israeli army fired on and hit a “terror cell” in the Lebanese border area. The military said it tried to fire anti-tank missiles into northern Israel. The Shiite organization Hezbollah said it had hit an Israeli “spy system.” According to a Lebanese security source, the Israeli military responded by shelling villages in the border area.
Israel denies crisis in relations with Bahrain
Israel rejected reports that it was recalling its ambassador to Bahrain and the Bahraini ambassador to Israel. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said there was “no communication or decision from the government in Bahrain and the Israeli government to recall the countries’ ambassadors.” Relations between the two countries are stable. The Foreign Ministry in Bahrain did not initially comment.
The Bahraini parliament had previously announced that the Gulf state had recalled its ambassador. The Israeli ambassador has left the kingdom. All economic relations with Israel would therefore be stopped. Bahrain reaffirmed its “firm support for the Palestinian cause,” it said.
WHO: No knowledge of Hamas positions in clinics
The World Health Organization (WHO) has no information about Hamas bases in hospitals in the embattled Gaza Strip. The UN organization’s top crisis manager, Mike Ryan, said this in Geneva. The WHO is in close contact with the medical staff on site. The WHO is not aware of what might be going on below these clinics, Ryan said.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
