Gaza Dispute
Live Reporting
1.9m now displaced in Gaza: UN humanitarian coordinator
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza has said that 1.9 million people are now displaced in the territory, adding she was “deeply concerned” by reports of new evacuation orders for Khan Younis, AFP reports.
“Over 1m people have been displaced once again, desperately seeking shelter and safety [and] 1.9m people are now displaced across Gaza … I’m deeply concerned about reports of new evacuation orders issued in the area of Khan Younis,” Sigrid Kaag told the UN Security Council.
Israel will not allow ‘winds of defeatism’ in fight against Hamas: Netanyahu
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that his country would not give in to the “winds of defeatism” as he reaffirmed his offensive aim of defeating Hamas, AFP reports.
Netanyahu made his new vow of victory after the New York Times quoted sources as saying Israel was ready to make a deal without reaching all its goals.
“I am here to make it unequivocally clear: This will not happen,” he said.
37,925 Palestinians killed in Israeli offensive in Gaza since Oct 7: health ministry
The health ministry in Gaza has said at least 25 people were killed in 24 hours, taking to 37,925 the death toll in nearly nine months of Israel’s offensive on Gaza, AFP reports.
A ministry statement added that 87,141 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
Israel wants to exhaust Palestinians with evacuation orders
Israel’s evacuation order from the east of Khan Younis shows its inability to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas and its intent to exhaust the population, says Luciano Zaccara, a professor of Gulf politics at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center, told Al Jazeera.
“This demonstrates that they cannot win the war because they wanted to eliminate Hamas physically and politically but so far the group is still there, this is why they need to move people, in order to chase them,” Zaccara told Al Jazeera.
“It also proves that Israel wants to win this war by exhausting the people,” he said, referring to several previous evacuation orders from different locations in the past nine months of war.
Smotrich slams decision to supply electricity to desalination plant in Gaza
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has criticised the Israeli government decision to supply electricity to a sewage and water desalination plant in Gaza.
Earlier this morning, Israeli media reported that the decision came on humanitarian grounds to prevent the outbreak of disease in the besieged Palestinian enclave which could pose a threat to Israel.
“We are restoring Gaza with our own hands … I call on Netanyahu to stop this folly,” Smotrich said on X.
Israel wants to exhaust Palestinians with evacuation orders
Israel’s evacuation order from the east of Khan Younis shows its inability to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas and its intent to exhaust the population, says Luciano Zaccara, a professor of Gulf politics at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center.
“This demonstrates that they cannot win the war because they wanted to eliminate Hamas physically and politically but so far the group is still there, this is why they need to move people, in order to chase them,” Zaccara told Al Jazeera.
“It also proves that Israel wants to win this war by exhausting the people,” he said, referring to several previous evacuation orders from different locations in the past nine months of war.
“In this way, it creates much more trouble and harm for Palestinians who cannot stay for more than one month or 15 days in one place,” he added.
The idea that there are safe places to move people to, Zaccara said, “is not true because every time there has been a displacement there were also attacks”.
Israeli army needs four weeks to complete operation in Rafah: Report
The Israeli army estimates that an additional four weeks are needed to complete its military operation in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, according to Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster.
The report claims the military needs several more weeks in order to eliminate the remaining tunnels in the city.
‘Fear and extreme anxiety’ grip Khan Younis as Israel orders more mass displacement
The AFP news agency is reporting a wave of Israeli strikes in southern Gaza as Palestinians flee areas of Khan Younis city and Rafah following the Israeli order to evacuate immediately.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency of multiple strikes in and around Khan Younis city, where at least eight people were killed and more than 30 were wounded overnight, according to a medical source and the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Ahmad Najjar, a resident of the Bani Suheila area of Khan Younis, said “a large displacement of residents” is under way.
“Fear and extreme anxiety have gripped people after the evacuation order,” he said.
Israeli military says 44 soldiers injured on Sunday and Monday: Reports
The Israeli military has announced that 44 of its soldiers were injured on Sunday and Monday, including 14 soldiers in the Gaza Strip, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues are reporting.
The Israeli military has also said that it has suffered 4,021 injuries in total since the start of the war, including 2,032 during the ground offensive on Gaza, according to local media reports.
Overcrowding Israeli prisons with Palestinian detainees ‘is a good thing’: Ben-Gvir
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the Sde Teiman prison to keep its doors open to Palestinian detainees, despite overcrowding.
“We are overcrowded in prisons, and it is a good thing,” Ben-Gvir was quoted as saying by Israeli media outlets.
“This is not a reason to release [Palestinian detainees], that is how they are supposed to be. These are terrorists, I give them what is required by law – the minimum,” he said.
Ben-Gvir said on X that the problem was not overcrowding in the prison but the fact that the Shin Bet – Israel’s internal security service – wants “to improve the conditions of the terrorists we reduced, and if not – to release them”.
“And I say: It will not arise and will not be,” he said.
The dispute comes after reports that more than 50 Palestinian detainees, including the director of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital Muhammad Abu Salmiya, were released by Israel yesterday due to overcrowding in the country’s prisons.
Israel’s Prison Service said that the Sde Teiman prison took in 500 Palestinian detainees last month at the request of the army.
Israeli settlers raided the small Palestinian village of Umm Al-Khair in the south of the occupied West Bank on Monday, leaving six people in hospital, while Israeli security forces watched without intervening, AP reports.
Father of Palestinian girl Hind Rajab also killed in Gaza: Report
The father of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab – whose killing in an Israeli tank attack in January garnered global attention – has also been reported killed in Gaza.
US journalist Jeremy Scahill said in a post on X that he had learned of the death from Palestinian journalist and documentary maker Ashraf Mashharawi, who recently spoke with Hind’s mother. Hind’s mother found out her husband had been killed by text message after the family was separated under Israel’s ongoing Gaza siege, Scahill said.
The Israeli tank attack that killed Hind also killed her three cousins, her aunt and uncle. Two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics sent to rescue Hind were also killed, Scahill said.
‘God knows where we will go tomorrow’: Israeli army displaces more of Gaza’s population
Khan Younis resident Ahmed al-Bairam said there was no time to take anything, following the Israeli military’s orders for people to leave the eastern part of the war-torn city in southern Gaza.
“God knows where we will go tomorrow,” he told the Reuters news agency, speaking of his latest displacement by the Israeli military.
“We came from the eastern area then we moved to the European hospital, then we went to Rafah, then we came back to Bani Suheila, then we returned to Nasser Hospital and now we just went up the Somood camp,’ Al-Bairam said of his search to find safety for his family from Israeli attacks.
“It is tiring, tiring, tiring. This time we did not take anything with us. There is no time to carry anything,” he said.
“There is no transportation, basically. I have children with me and they all walk.”
The European Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the last hospitals operating in southern Gaza, was forced to evacuate patients after the latest order by the Israeli military was issued.
The evacuation order comes after the armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of about 20 rockets into southern Israel – the largest in months.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Washington will not accept an Israeli occupation of Gaza and that a ceasefire is necessary to defuse tensions in the region.
Palestinian group Islamic Jihad fires rockets into Israel, as tanks deepen incursions into Gaza
GAZA (AFP) - Violence flared on Monday as the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad fired around 20 rockets into Israel, while Israeli tanks deepened incursions into eastern Gaza City, residents said. Meanwhile, efforts to achieve a ceasefire backed by the United States have stalled.
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday as fighting raged in Gaza and Israeli tanks advanced deeper in parts of the enclave, residents and officials said.
