After the US Veto… Israel orders new evacuations in Khan Yunis in Gaza after and the Army Chief of Staff calls on soldiers to press more forcefully in Gaza
Israel ordered residents to leave the center of the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday and bombed the Strip from north to south after the United States used its veto in the United Nations Security Council to protect its ally from a ceasefire demand.
Since the collapse of the truce at the beginning of this month, Israel has expanded its ground campaign in the southern half of the Gaza Strip by storming the main city of Khan Yunis.
At the same time, both sides announced a significant escalation in fighting in the north.
Israel said its campaign was making progress.
Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi stated that Israeli forces have killed at least seven thousand Hamas militants so far, without clarifying the source of this estimate.
Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy also told the soldiers, “We need to press harder”.
On the other hand, death toll in Gaza as a result of Israeli attacks rose, exceeding 17,700, with thousands more missing and believed to have died under the rubble.
According to death statistics, about 40% of deaths were children under the age of 18.
Israel issued warning for Palestinians in Khan Yunis that residents were asked to evacuate urgently.
Similar warnings were issued last week before storming the eastern parts of the Khan Yunis.
The Israeli military campaign forced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to leave their homes, and many of them were displaced multiple times.
As fighting intensifies across the Strip, residents and UN agencies say there is now nowhere safe to take refuge, while Israel disputed.
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his appreciation for Washington’s using Veto to stop passing a ceasefire draft resolution, Friday, and said, “Israel will continue our just war to eliminate Hamas”.
Washington said it asked Israel to make more efforts to protect civilians in the next phase of the war.
But Washington continues to support Israel in its insistence that the ceasefire will only benefit Hamas.
Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood said before the Security Council, “We don’t support this resolution’s call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only result in sowing the seeds of the next war”.
