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More Palestinians displaced as Israel battles Hamas in south Gaza
: As fighting in the Gaza Strip continues, UNRWA has urged countries to reconsider funding the agency. –EPA
(Reuters) – Medical facilities are at risk of collapse in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza city now at the focus of Israel’s offensive, the Gaza health ministry warned on Sunday, as fighting raged across the Palestinian enclave.
Residents said Israeli planes and tanks also pounded areas in Gaza City to the north, where Israel has slowly been pulling out troops.
The fighting could be heard in the nearby towns of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, near to Gaza City.
Israel’s military said it was engaged in “intensive battles” in Khan Younis, where it said troops “eliminated terrorists and located large quantities of weapons”.
The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters clashed with Israeli troops in several areas across the enclave overnight.
Hamas’ armed wing said its fighters destroyed two Israeli tanks in Khan Younis.
The latest fighting came as United Nations officials and aid groups urged countries to reconsider their decision to pause funding for the UN refugee agency for Palestinians, a vital source of aid in Gaza.
At least nine countries have paused funding following allegations by Israel that a dozen of UNRWA’s staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
“While I understand their concerns – I was myself horrified by these accusations – I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday, promising to hold to account “any UN employee involved in acts of terror”.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said 165 Palestinians were killed and 290 wounded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total killed in Israeli strikes since the war began to 26,422.
Officials in the Hamas-ruled territory do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count.
Israel has not yet publicly given details of UNRWA staff members’ alleged involvement in the attack on Israel.
Guterres said 12 staff members had been implicated and that nine had been terminated, one was dead and the identities of the other two were being clarified.
The UN is taking swift action following the extremely serious allegations against several UNRWA staff. These abhorrent alleged acts must have consequences. But the humanitarian needs of the desperate populations UNRWA serves must be met.
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy told Reuters that to his knowledge the intelligence that led the US to cut off its funding had not yet been declassified but that an Israeli briefing would be dedicated to this topic later in the week.
Israel says it has lost 220 soldiers in the ground offensive and has killed 9000 Gaza fighters, a figure that Hamas has dismissed.
One strike on a house in a suburb of Gaza City killed eight people, health officials said.
Israel launched a war it says aims to eliminate Hamas after the militants’ unprecedented cross-border assault in which 1200 people were killed and 253 abducted, according to Israeli officials.
The Israeli military declared a closed military zone at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after ultranationalist demonstrators and some families of hostages tried to stop aid from going into the enclave, saying it was merely helping Hamas.
Protests in Israel demanding that the government do more to secure the hostages’ release have been spreading as little progress has been seen in ceasefire talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar since November amid disputes between Israel and Hamas.
More families were displaced from Khan Younis on Sunday.
Some people took dirt roads to get closer to the city of Rafah along the border with Egypt or Deir al-Balah to the north.
Others headed west to an area called al-Mawasi where residents described being crammed into a small area.
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