According to Thomas White, the director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, a housing complex in Khan Younis that houses tens of thousands of displaced persons caught fire after being bombed during rising conflict.
“Safe access to/from the centre has been denied for two days,” he stated in an X post, adding that individuals are still “trapped”.
According to Reuters, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has accused Israel of impeding assistance deliveries from the Rafah border crossing into Gaza by enforcing procedures that impede movements.
“This is a type of pressure on the Gaza Strip and its people over the crisis and the release of hostages. They are using this as a pressure tactic for the people of the Strip.”
“We used to send 600 trucks to Gaza each day. However, for the past two to three days, we have not delivered more than 200 to 200 trucks (of relief) each day. “How do these people (in Gaza) live?” he said.
“The Rafah crossing in Egypt is open around the clock, every day of the month. However, the protocols in place on the Israeli side to allow us to send in supplies without being obstructed by anyone are the cause of the holdups.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Israeli troops are surrounding its teams inside its headquarters and at El Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.
“Commenting on reported ceasefire agreements, Israel will not give up on destroying Hamas, returning all hostages, and ensuring that Gaza poses no security threat to Israel,” spokesperson Ilana Stein stated in a briefing.
“There will not be a ceasefire. Previously, there were pauses for humanitarian purposes. Hamas breached that deal.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), seven out of 24 hospitals in northern Gaza are “partially functioning” due to a lack of manpower and supplies.
The facilities lack “sufficient specialised medical staff to manage the volume and range of injuries, as well as sufficient medicines and medical supplies, fuel, clean water, or food for patients or staff,” according to a WHO statement.
More than 100 days into Israel’s drive to “destroy Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being challenged regarding strategy by members of his own war cabinet, under pressure from Washington about post-war Gaza preparations, and hemmed in by his far-right ministers, according to Reuters.
With the prime minister’s political survival on the line, he is also under pressure from his far-right coalition allies, some of whom have threatened to destabilize the government if he backs down.
Netanyahu, who is already playing a fine diplomatic line between Washington and his hard-right coalition government, will most likely face more challenges as the more intense fighting phase comes to a conclusion.
According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israel’s Arab and Muslim neighbors may be willing to more fully integrate Israel into the area if they see a commitment to a pathway to a Palestinian state. However, top-level Israeli conversations over who will run Gaza beyond the crisis have been routinely postponed due to political infighting.
The many post-conflict views are sufficiently divergent that holding another such debate would be “problematic”.
