HEAVY DAMAGE
The UN says Gaza’s health system is collapsing “due to ongoing hostilities and access constraints”.
Israel’s military accuses Hamas and the Islamic Jihad of hiding inside medical facilities, using patients, staff and displaced people for cover – charges the militants have denied.
On Friday the army said it was “continuing precise operation activities in Shifa Hospital” where it began a raid early last week.
Troops first raided Al-Shifa in November, before Israel in January announced it had “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’ command structure in northern Gaza. Palestinian militants and commanders had since returned to Al-Shifa, the army said.
Netanyahu has said troops “are holding the northern Gaza Strip” and also the southern city of Khan Younis, amid heavy fighting.
“We have bisected the Strip and we are preparing to enter Rafah,” he said on Thursday.
Netanyahu is under domestic pressure over his failure to bring home all of the hostages seized by militants on Oct 7. Israel says about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 34 presumed dead.
About 200 militants have been killed during the latest Al-Shifa operation, the military said.
Near Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, troops carried out “targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure”, killing dozens in combat backed by air support, the army said on Thursday.
Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles have massed around another Khan Younis health facility, the Nasser Hospital, the Gaza health ministry said.
An analysis of satellite images shows heavily damaged areas around the Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals.
DEADLIEST TOLL
Since the Gaza war began, Israel has increased its strikes in Syria, targeting army positions and Iran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a key Hamas ally.
A Britain-based war monitor said Israeli air strikes on Friday in north Syria killed at least 42 people, six from Hezbollah and 36 Syrian soldiers.
And Israel’s military said it killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket unit, in an air strike in south Lebanon on Friday.
US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have tried to secure a truce in Gaza, but those talks had appeared deadlocked more than halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Tensions have risen between Netanyahu and Washington, which provides billions of dollars in military aid but has grown increasingly vocal about the war’s impact on civilians.
Washington has also raised the issue of Gaza’s post-war rule. It has suggested a future role for the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
On Thursday, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas approved the new government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, who said his Cabinet will work on “visions to reunify the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza”.
Hamas forcibly took Gaza from Abbas’ government in 2007.
Netanyahu says Israel must have “security responsibility” in Gaza, and has rejected calls for a Palestinian state.
Source: CNA
