Israel has intensified its ground and aerial bombardment of Khan Younis in Gaza in its efforts to achieve a final military victory over Hamas. Bomb victims and others fleeing the fighting arrived en masse at Nasser Hospital in the southern city.
Israeli forces also attacked the Jabalia area, after warning civilians to flee further south. Many of them had already been forced to leave their homes in the north, and different NGOs say there is nowhere safe for people to go. The Gaza Strip Health Ministry says several hundred people have been killed since last week’s truce ended.
Palestinian militants continue to fight street by street, as an Islamic Jihad video purports to show. Israeli forces say eighty of their soldiers have been killed in combat since the ground offensive began. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel, with the town of Ascalon among its latest targets.
Hamas’ brutal incursion into Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed, triggered the armed conflict. More than 100 people remain hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.