Israeli forces are advancing into the heart of the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis. They suspect the leadership of the Islamists – and the hostages kidnapped from Israel – in the area in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli armed forces have fought a bitter urban battle with the Islamist Hamas in the largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The military said the soldiers had advanced “into the heart” of Khan Yunis. Numerous people fled the fighting in the Hamas stronghold. “There is no ‘safe’ zone. The entire Gaza Strip has become one of the most dangerous places in the world,” wrote the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA) on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
Ground offensive and air strikes
The Israeli armed forces suspect that the leadership of the Islamist Hamas and many of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip are in the area not far from Egypt. If the military takes control of the city, Hamas fighters would only be able to retreat to small areas in the center of the Gaza Strip and on the border with Egypt. At the same time, international pressure on Israel to end the ground offensive is likely to increase.
The Israeli military continued its airstrikes in other parts of the Gaza Strip. Over the past day, around 250 “terrorist targets” were attacked, the armed forces said. The troops are still in the process of locating weapons, tunnel shafts, explosives and military infrastructure.
Meanwhile, alarm sirens continued to sound in Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip due to rocket attacks. According to the Israeli armed forces, military positions in the north of the country were attacked from neighboring Lebanon. The armed forces said the army had fired on the launch sites in Lebanon.
UN chief urges Security Council to act exceptionally hard on Gaza
In a rare move, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the UN Security Council to work to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. In a letter to the Security Council, the UN chief invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since taking office in 2017. This allows the Secretary General to bring to the attention of the Security Council “any matter which, in his opinion, may jeopardize the guarantee of international peace and security”.
The Gaza War was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other terrorist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 people were killed. In addition, 240 people were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip, 105 of whom were released during a temporary ceasefire. Israel responded to the terrorist attack with massive air strikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians: Tens of thousands in tents in Khan Yunis
According to Palestinian information, the humanitarian situation is becoming increasingly dramatic due to the fighting in the south of the Gaza Strip. Tens of thousands of people lived in tents on the streets of the city of Chan Yunis, eyewitnesses reported to the German Press Agency.
There is a lack of food, water and shelter. The situation became particularly serious after the Israeli army asked people in the east of the city to flee to western districts and to Rafah on the border with Egypt. According to UNRWA, there are now almost 1.9 million internally displaced people in the coastal strip – out of a total population of more than 2.2 million.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 16,200 people have now been killed in Gaza. This cannot currently be independently verified, but the UN and observers point out that the authority’s figures have proven to be overall credible in the past.
Israel’s military: Large weapons cache discovered in Gaza
In the north of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli armed forces say they discovered a huge weapons cache near a hospital and a school. There were hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades and rocket-propelled grenades, dozens of anti-tank missiles, dozens of explosive devices, longer-range rockets, dozens of grenades and drones, the military said. It is “one of the largest weapons caches” that have been discovered in the Gaza Strip to date. “The entire terrorist infrastructure was located right next to residential buildings in the heart of the civilian population,” a military spokesman wrote.
Israeli forces intercept surface-to-surface missile
According to the military, Israel’s Arrow missile defense system intercepted another surface-to-surface missile in the Red Sea area. The missile did not enter Israeli territory and did not pose a threat to civilians, the armed forces said on Wednesday. Previously, a rocket alarm had been triggered in the city of Eilat on the Red Sea in southern Israel. Together with David’s Sling and Iron Dome, Arrow forms Israel’s anti-aircraft defense system. The “Arrow” can destroy enemy missiles at an altitude of over 100 kilometers and thus outside the atmosphere in early space with a direct hit.
Türk criticizes Israeli representatives
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, criticized former and current senior Israeli officials for “inhumane and inflammatory statements” about Palestinians. “History has shown us what such expressions can lead to,” said Türk.
“Not only is this unacceptable, but a competent court could interpret such statements as incitement to atrocities in the context of the circumstances in which they were made,” Turk said, referring to the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He spoke of a human rights crisis, with unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by Israeli forces, aggressive settler violence and an alarming increase in deaths in custody and allegations of ill-treatment of Palestinians in detention.
Erdogan threatens Israel
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Israel against persecuting members of the Islamist Hamas in his country. “If they take such a step against Turkey, they will pay the price in a way that they will not be able to recover,” Erdogan said, according to his office on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that Israel’s secret services were preparing to track down and kill Hamas leaders around the world after the end of the Gaza war. Turkey has connections to Hamas, and officials are also said to be in the country.