Israeli troops and tanks collect close to the border with the Gaza Strip on December 3, 2023, after battles resumed between Israel and Hamas militants, as clashes proceed between Israel and Hamas militants on December 3, 2023.
Jack Guez | AFP | Getty Images
The Israeli navy is expanding its offensive in southern Gaza, the place for a lot of the final two months it has informed Palestinian civilians to flee for his or her security.
The Israeli Defense Forces ramped up bombardment of Khan Younis, the besieged enclave’s second-largest metropolis, as the United Nations and Israel’s high ally the U.S. pressured the safety of civilians.
At least 50 individuals have been killed Tuesday in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis in the south and the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, in line with Palestinian information company Wafa. The outlet and different journalists on the bottom reported streams of ambulances dashing individuals to native hospitals.
It got here after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the prevention of extra civilian hurt.
“The Secretary-General is extraordinarily alarmed by the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas … For individuals ordered to evacuate, there may be nowhere protected to go and little or no to outlive on,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric mentioned in a statement.
U.S. nationwide safety advisor Jake Sullivan, talking to press, mentioned that Israel has “indicated there are areas the place there’ll be no strike zones, and in these zones we do anticipate Israel to comply with by on not hanging.”
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller mentioned that it’s “too early to make a definitive evaluation … I’ve not seen proof that they’re deliberately focusing on civilians,” however added: “We consider that far too many civilians have been killed.”
He blamed the Palestinian militant group Hamas — whose terror assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 individuals and triggered the present battle — for embedding itself in Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.
Israel’s offensive has killed greater than 15,800 individuals in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian well being authorities say.
Of the roughly 240 hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas on Oct. 7, the IDF estimates that 137 hostages stay there, in situations unknown. It follows hostage swaps for the discharge of Palestinian prisoners that have been carried out throughout a week-long cease-fire on the finish of November.