Palestinian Territories:

Israeli forces carried out deadly strikes Tuesday on southern Gaza after the army again ordered Palestinians to leave areas near the besieged territory’s border with Israel and Egypt.

Witnesses reported intense bombing and shelling around Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city from which Israeli forces withdrew in early April after a devastating months-long battle.

A hospital source in the city said shelling killed eight people and wounded more than 30 others.

The bombardment came after a rocket barrage at southern Israel claimed by the group Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas.

This was followed by an order to evacuate most areas east of the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah, including the towns of Al-Qarara and Bani Suhaila.

Bani Suhaila resident Ahmad Najjar said the Israeli order has spurred “fear and extreme anxiety”, and “there is a large displacement of residents”.

Six consecutive days of intense battles followed a similar evacuation order issued last week for the Gaza City district of Shujaiya.

An AFP correspondent reported artillery shelling in the northern area on Tuesday, and witnesses said gun battles raged on.

The military said its forces were operating in Shujaiya, central Gaza and Rafah, where aircraft carried out strikes and troops “ambushed an armed terrorist squad” in a car and killed them.

Over the past day, the Israeli air force “struck approximately 30 terror targets” across Gaza, said a military statement.

In Shujaiya, Palestinian militants “were eliminated and dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites above and below ground were dismantled, including tunnel shafts”, it added.

‘Downshift’ 

In central Gaza, witnesses said strikes hit the Nuseirat refugee camp where the Palestinian Red Crescent reported at least one dead, a child.

Other parts of the Gaza Strip were reeling from continued fighting nearly nine months into the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

Months of on-and-off talks towards a truce and hostage release deal have meanwhile made little progress, even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared that the “intense phase” of the war was winding down.

“We’ve heard the Israelis talk about a significant downshift in their operations in Gaza,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.

“It remains to be seen.”

The latest order to leave parts of southern Gaza follows an evacuation of Rafah nearly two months ago which had signalled the start of a long-feared Israeli ground offensive.

The fighting since then has again uprooted many Palestinians and led to the closure of a key aid crossing.

The United Nations and relief agencies have voiced alarm over the dire humanitarian crisis and the threat of starvation the war and Israeli siege have brought for Gaza’s 2.4 million people.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The operatives also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive aimed at eradicating the Palestinian militants in Gaza has killed at least 37,900 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israeli authorities on Monday released Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital — the territory’s largest medical complex — along with dozens of other detainees returned to Gaza for treatment.

Speaking after his release, Abu Salmiya said he had suffered “severe torture” during his detention.

“Several inmates died in interrogation centres and were deprived of food and medicine,” he said.

‘Try peace’

Israel has accused Hamas of using Al-Shifa and other hospitals as a cover for military operations, claims Gaza militants have rejected.

Netanyahu, who has faced growing anger from protesters over his handling of the conflict as well as pressure from hardline coalition partners, criticised the release which he said had been made without his knowledge.

The Israeli premier said Abu Salmiya belongs “in prison” because Israeli hostages were “murdered and held” in the now ravaged hospital he runs.

Successive Israeli raids have reduced large parts of Al-Shifa to rubble.

The director’s return to Gaza was “a serious mistake and a moral failure”, Netanyahu said.

According to Abu Salmiya, Israel brought no charges against him during his seven-month detention.

Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency said the release was “to free up places in detention centres”.

Those freed “represent a lesser danger” and were not directly involved in attacks on Israeli civilians, it said.

In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Monday, thousands attended an event calling for an end to the war and “a better reality” for Israelis and Palestinians, according to activist Ibrahim Abu Ahmad.

“At any moment, we can start making peace,” said Israeli historian and author Yuval Noah Harari.

“We have already tried to make peace, and we weren’t good at it. So what? We aren’t that successful at making war either, and that doesn’t stop us from trying… It’s time to try peace again.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees told a UN emergency meeting on Monday “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” accusing Israel of “collective punishment” of Palestinians and the forced displacement of civilians.

Philippe Lazzarini warned that a further breakdown of civil order after the agency’s warehouses were broken into by Palestinians searching for food and other aid “will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating.”

Briefings to the Security Council by Mr. Lazzarini, the head of the UN children’s agency UNICEF and a senior UN humanitarian official, painted a dire picture of the humanitarian situation in Gaza 23 days after Hamas’ surprise October 7 attacks in Israel, and its ongoing retaliatory military action aimed at “obliterating” the militant group, which controls Gaza.

According to the latest figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 8,300 people have been killed — 66% of them women and children — and tens of thousands injured, the UN humanitarian office said.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell that toll includes over 3,400 children killed and more than 6,300 injured. “This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day — a number which should shake each of us to our core,” she said.

Mr. Lazzarini said: “This surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.” And he stressed, “This cannot be ‘collateral damage.’”

Many speakers at the council meeting denounced Hamas’ October 7 surprise attacks on Israel that killed over 1,400 people, and urged the release of some 230 hostages taken to Gaza by the militants. But virtually every speaker also stressed that Israel is obligated under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and their essentials for life including hospitals, schools and other infrastructure — and Israel was criticized for cutting off food, water, fuel and medicine to Gaza and cutting communications for several days.

Mr. Lazzarini said “the handful of convoys” allowed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt in recent days “is nothing compared to the needs of over 2 million people trapped in Gaza.”

“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail,” he said, “unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs.”

The commissioner-general of the U.N. agency known as UNRWA said there is no safe place anywhere in Gaza, warning that basic services are crumbling, medicine, food, water and fuel are running out, and the streets “have started overflowing with sewage, which will cause a massive health hazard very soon.”

UNICEF oversees water and sanitation issues for the U.N., and Russell warned that “the lack of clean water and safe sanitation is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe.”

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the divided Security Council — which has rejected four resolutions that would have responded to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the ongoing war — to come together, saying “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day.”

Stressing that all innocent civilians must be protected, she said the council must call “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected.” She reiterated President Joe Biden’s calls for humanitarian pauses to get hostages out and allow aid in, and for safe passage for civilians.

“That means Hamas must not use Palestinians as human shields — an act of unthinkable cruelty and a violation of the law of war,” the U.S. ambassador said, “and that means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.”

In a sign of increasing U.S. concern at the escalating Palestinian death toll, Thomas-Greenfield told the council Biden reiterated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday “that while Israel has the right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism, it must do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law.”

“The fact that Hamas operates within and under the cover of civilians areas creates an added burden for Israel, but it does not lessen its responsibility to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians,” she stressed.

Following the rejection of the four resolutions in the 15-member Security Council — one vetoed by the U.S., one vetoed by Russia and China, and two for failing to get the minimum nine “yes” votes — Arab nations went to the U.N. General Assembly last Friday where there are no vetoes.

The 193-member world body adopted a resolution calling for humanitarian truces leading to a cessation of hostilities by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. Now, the 10 elected members in the 15-member Security Council are trying again to negotiate a resolution that won’t be rejected. While council resolutions are legally binding, assembly resolutions are not though they are an important barometer of world opinion.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan was sharply critical of the council’s failure to condemn Hamas’ attacks and asked members: “Why are the humanitarian needs of Gazans, the sole issue, the sole issue you are focused on?”

Recalling his grandfather who survived Nazi death camps but whose his wife and seven children perished in the Auschwitz gas chamber, Erdan told the council he will wear a yellow star — just as Hitler made his grandfather and other Jews wear during World War II — “until you condemn the atrocities of Hamas and demand the immediate release of our hostages.”

The ambassador then put a large six-pointed yellow star of David saying “Never Again” on his suit jacket, as did other Israeli diplomats sitting behind him, and said: “We walk with the yellow star as a symbol of pride, a reminder that we swore to fight back to defend ourselves. Never again is now.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, also urged the Security Council to follow the General Assembly, end its paralysis, and demand “an end to this bloodshed, which constitutes an affront to humanity, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and a clear and imminent danger for regional and international peace and security.”

“Save those who still can be saved and bury in a dignified manner those who have perished,” Mansour said.

Washington:

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday slammed Islamic countries for not opening up their gates for civilians from Gaza who are seeking to flee their homes in the face of an imminent ground invasion by Israel. She also hit out at former US president Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the incumbent, over the Iranian nuclear deal and accused Tehran of strengthening Hamas and Hezbollah.

“We should care about the Palestinian citizens, especially the innocent ones because they didn’t ask for this. But where are the Arab countries? Where are they? Where is Qatar? Where is Lebanon? Where is Jordan? Where is Egypt? Do you know we give Egypt over a billion dollars a year? Why aren’t they opening the gates? Why aren’t they taking the Palestinians?” Haley told CNN in an interview.

“You know why? Because they know they can’t vet them, and they don’t want Hamas in their neighbourhood. So why would Israel want them in their neighbourhood? So let’s be honest with what’s going on. The Arab countries aren’t doing anything to help the Palestinians because they don’t trust who is right, who is good, who is evil, and they don’t want it in their country,” she said.

Haley anticipated that these Islamic countries would blame America.

“They’re going to come and blame America. They’re going to come and blame Israel. And don’t fall for it, because they have the ability to fix all of this if they wanted to. They have the ability to go in and tell Hamas right now to stop what they’re doing. They have the ability to tell Hamas to let those people out,” Haley said.

“But you know what? Qatar is going to continue to work with Hamas and their leadership. Iran is going to continue to fund all of this and not say anything. And who’s silent? Every one of those Arab countries are going to be silent. But expect for the finger to point to Israel, and the finger is going to point to America,” she said.

Haley said Hamas is going to do everything they can to not have them leave, because “they want them all to die”. “One, they want to use them as human shields, but, two, they want to blame Israel and show images of dead children and say, look at what Israel did,” she alleged.

“But don’t ever forget what Hamas did. Don’t ever forget those girls running for their life. Don’t ever forget those babies that were killed in cribs. Don’t ever forget the people that they were dragging through the streets. And what were they saying, Jake? They were saying, “Death to Israel, death to America,” she said.

“That’s who we’re dealing with. But I dealt with this at the United Nations. You’re going to hear all of those Arab countries vilify Israel for what’s about to happen. You’re going to hear all of them say, how dare you not do more for the Palestinian people?” said Haley, a former US ambassador to the UN.

She said right now, they cannot take their eyes off of the terrorists. “I mean, what Hamas did was beyond thuggish, brutal, and sick. What the Iranian regime is doing to help them is terrible. But let’s look back at, what did Biden do? Biden turned around and fell all over himself to get into the Iran deal. Obama did it before that,” she said.

“You gave all of this money. And what did you do? You empowered Iran to go and strengthen Hamas, strengthen Hezbollah, strengthen the Houthis to spread their terrorist activity. We went and strengthened those sanctions and decimated Iran’s economy. And what happened? Biden has loosened the sanctions,” she said.

Palestinian group Hamas carried out a barrage of air strikes in Southern Israel last week. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in response launched multiple attacks targeting Hamas’ key infrastructure. So far, thousands of people have been killed in Israel and the Gaza Strip in the biggest escalation in decades between the two sides.

“Now we have got the fact that he gave USD6 billion in hostage money. OK, now you have frozen it, but we have all these American hostages. Guess what they’re going to want? If you gave them USD 6 billion for five people and released hostages, guess what they’re going to be asking for all these others that we have?” Halley said.

“We have created this scenario where you have given Iran — the Iranian regime too much power and too much pull and to be able to do this. We have got to be strong. We have got to have Israel’s back. And, remember, as awful as these images are, and we have the back of Israel because they have been hit terribly, we have to have the back of them when they hit back as well,” Haley said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)