Israel warned Palestinians in Khan Younis to move out of the line of fire and closer to humanitarian aid, signaling its intention to attack Hamas in south Gaza after defeating it in the north.
We want people to move. “I know it’s hard for many of them, but we don’t want civilians caught in the crossfire,” Netanyahu aide Mark Regev told MSNBC on Friday.
If hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled south from the Israeli assault on Gaza City and residents of Khan Younis, a city of over 400,000, were forced to move again, it could worsen the humanitarian crisis.
Israel has destroyed much of Gaza City, depopulated the northern half of the narrow strip, and displaced two-thirds of the 2.3 million Palestinians since Oct. 7. Many refugees fear permanent displacement.
Gaza health officials reported over 12,000 deaths on Friday, including 5,000 children. Though updated infrequently due to data collection difficulties, the UN considers those figures credible.
Israel sent leaflets to Khan Younis urging people to evacuate to shelters, implying military operations.
An Israeli air strike on two city apartments killed 26 Palestinians and injured 23, according to a Nasser Hospital official.
On Friday, Israel appeared to bow to international pressure by allowing fuel trucks in and promising “no limitation” on UN aid, despite warnings that its Gaza siege would cause starvation and disease.
Israel agreed to allow two truckloads of fuel a day at Washington’s request to help the U.N. meet basic needs and also to increase aid.
Colonel Elad Goren of COGAT, the defense ministry agency tasked with coordinating administrative matters with the Palestinians, stated at a briefing that they will increase the capacity of humanitarian convoys and trucks as long as the need exists.
The World Food Programme warned of the “immediate possibility of starvation” after U.N. agencies warned that humanitarian conditions in Gaza were rapidly deteriorating.
Israel said it found a Hamas tunnel shaft and a vehicle with many weapons at Gaza’s largest hospital, Al Shifa.
Israel’s ground assault on the facility has raised international concerns about the humanitarian crisis.
Israel has claimed the hospital is above a massive underground Hamas command center. According to hospital staff, Israel’s findings have not shown this.
Hamas rejects any military utilization of hospitals.
The first premature baby to die at Al Shifa Hospital in two days since Israeli forces entered was on Friday. The hospital was surrounded, and three died in the previous days.
In addition, Hamas reported that an Israeli captive, aged 85, had died of a panic attack that occurred during an airstrike.
After finding her body near the hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old Israeli army conscript, was buried in Modiin, Israel. Her abduction from a military base occurred during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
