Israeli forces have advanced deep into western Khan Younis, storming one hospital and placing another under siege, cutting the wounded off from trauma care, Palestinian officials told Reuters on Monday. Troops advanced into the al-Mawasi district near the Mediterranean Coast, west of Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza. There, Israeli forces stormed the Al-Khair hospital and started arresting medical staff, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qidra reported to Reuters.
Palestinian Hamas militants are seen during a military show in the Bani Suheila district on July 20, 2017 in Gaza City, Gaza. For the past ten years Gaza residents have lived with constant power shortages, in recent years these cuts have worsened, with supply of regular power limited to four hours a day.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said tanks had also surrounded another Khan Younis hospital, al-Amal, headquarters of the rescue agency, which had lost contact with its staff there. Qidra said at least 50 people were killed overnight in Khan Younis, while the sieges of medical facilities meant dozens of dead and wounded were beyond the reach of rescuers.
"The Israeli occupation is preventing ambulance vehicles from moving to recover bodies of martyrs and the wounded from western Khan Younis," he said.
A young man, Rabie Salem, sat on the floor cradling a small, wounded girl in his arms. They had finally reached the hospital in the morning after waiting for an ambulance through the night, while his mother lay dying. She had told him not to worry about her and help the rest of the family, he said, weeping: "Now she is gone."
Outside, men were digging graves inside the hospital grounds because it was no longer safe to venture out to the cemetery. A man placed the tiny body of a toddler wrapped inside a white shroud into a shallow hole in the sand. Authorities said 40 people were buried there."It's very difficult to leave the complex and go to any cemetery and bury them because we're under siege and anyone who leaves the complex is targeted," said Abdelkarim Ahmad, participating in the burials.
"Hamas embeds its operation within and under hospitals and other medical facilities," said Elad Goren of COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry branch that coordinates with the Palestinians.
What Exactly Happened?
The BBC reported residents said tanks had surrounded a hospital and university where thousands of displaced people were sheltering. Khan Younis has been a recent focus of Israeli forces, who are convinced top Hamas commanders are holed up there.
As the US, Qatar, and Egypt try to mediate, Hamas has demanded that Israel end the war and withdraw its forces before the hostages are released. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected such a deal, saying it would amount to a capitulation to "monsters" and mean soldiers had "fallen in vain".
Hamas gunmen took about 250 people hostage and killed 1,300 others when they carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, Israeli authorities said. At least 25,295 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign in response. More are believed to be dead or lost under rubble.
According to BBC, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told hostages' families on Sunday evening that troops were "engaging in a forceful operation in the Khan Younis area, and it will expand." Overnight, Khan Younis was pounded by heavy Israeli bombing. Explosions were seen lighting up the sky and constant gunfire was heard in videos.
Al Jazeera confirms that at least 190 Palestinians were killed and 340 wounded in Gaza over the last 24 hours.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents nearly two million employees in healthcare, the public sector, and property services in the United States and Canada, has called for ending the war on Gaza.
Labor movements, a traditional constituency in the Democratic Party of US President Joe Biden, have been increasingly backing the call for a ceasefire, adding to the pressure against the White House's unwavering support for the war.
"We call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the delivery of life-saving food, water, medicine, and other resources to the people of Gaza," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said in a statement.
She added that the demand is "rooted in the pain" felt by the union's members, including "the hundreds of thousands of SEIU healthcare workers who see themselves in the healthcare workers in Gaza who have been killed trying to save lives."
There was no immediate word from Israel on the situation at the hospital. The military spokesperson's office had no comment.
