Israeli forces penetrate into the northern and southern Gaza Strip via a highway leading to Rafah
Israeli forces on Monday pushed into the northern Gaza Strip amid the rubble of destroyed and devastated buildings to retake an area of Hamas militants, while tanks and other forces advanced in the southern enclave via a highway leading to Rafah, prompting Palestinian civilians to speed up in search of a safe haven.
Some of the heaviest fighting over the weeks has taken place in the northern and southern Gaza Strip.
Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have led to the closure of a key aid crossing point, which aid groups say exacerbates an already dire situation.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are forced to flee Rafah again, where about half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge after Israel issued evacuation orders in the northern enclave in October.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry on Monday called for international pressure to re-allow aid, medical supplies and fuel to run generators and ambulances.
The wounded and sick are slowly dying due to lack of treatment and supplies and at the same time their inability to travel, the health ministry said.
A UN spokesman said a UN foreign staff member was killed on Monday after an UN-branded car was struck to a hospital in Rafah.
That is the first foreign United Nations staff to die in the Gaza war, bringing the Organization’s death toll to some 190.
In Jabaliya refugee camp, in northern Gaza, which was set up for displaced Palestinians 75 years ago, Israeli forces entered an area they claimed had evacuated from Hamas months earlier.
Residents fled the rubble-strewn streets, while Israeli Tank shells landed in the center of the camp, and Palestinian health officials said they had so far recovered 20 bodies of Palestinians killed in air strikes on Jabaliya overnight.
Gaza health officials said the death toll from the war had so far exceeded 35,000 and there were fears that thousands more could be lost under the rubble.
They added that 57 people were killed in the past twenty-four hours.
The death toll issued by the Gaza Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
