Israeli forces battled Hamas militants Tuesday in the Gaza Strip with an increasing focus on southern Gaza as international aid organizations expressed concern that civilians do not have a safe escape from the conflict.
Israeli tanks and troops moved near Khan Younis, a southern city that is the second-largest in the Gaza Strip, while Israeli aerial attacks hit southern Gaza.
Warnings from the Israeli military in recent days urged people in multiple Khan Younis neighborhoods to evacuate for their safety, directing them areas further south.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says an estimated 1.8 million people are displaced within Gaza, while the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says nearly 1 million people are sheltering in its facilities in southern Gaza.
Many people fled northern Gaza for the south in the earlier stages of the war as Israel focused its campaign against Hamas in areas such as Gaza City.
Lynn Hastings, humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement Monday that space for carrying out humanitarian work inside Gaza “is constantly shrinking” and that the amount of supplies reaching Gaza is “utterly insufficient.”
“Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go,” Hastings said. “The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond.”
While visiting Gaza Monday, Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, offered a grim assessment of the plight of Palestinians in the territory.
“The level of human suffering is intolerable,” she said in a statement. “It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza, and with a military siege in place, there is also no adequate humanitarian response currently possible.”
Israel has accused Hamas of embedding itself in and underneath hospitals and other civilian areas and encouraging civilians to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate ahead of airstrikes, using them in effect as human shields, an accusation Hamas has denied.
Israel began its military campaign to end Hamas’ rule of Gaza after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel Oct. 7. Israel said 1,200 people were killed and some 240 captives taken.
About 100 of the hostages have since been swapped to Israel in exchange for the release of several hundred Palestinian prisoners jailed by Israel.
At least 15,890 people have been killed in Gaza, 70% of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
