Hundreds of civilians flee north Gaza as Israeli troops and Hamas fighters battle

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Palestinian civilians trudged in a forlorn procession out of the north of Gaza on Wednesday searching for refuge from Israeli air strikes and fierce floor preventing between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.

The exodus occurred in a four-hour window of alternative introduced by Israel, which has informed residents to evacuate the north encircled by its armoured forces or danger being trapped within the violence.

However the central and southern components of the small, besieged Palestinian enclave additionally got here beneath fireplace once more because the struggle between its Islamist Hamas rulers and Israel entered its second month.

Palestinian well being officers mentioned an air strike that hit homes within the Nusseirat refugee camp killed 18 individuals on Wednesday morning. In Khan Younis, six individuals, together with a younger woman, had been killed in an air strike.

“We had been sitting in peace when hastily an F16 air strike landed on a home and blew it up, the complete block, three homes subsequent to one another,” mentioned a witness, Mohammed Abu Daqa.

“Civilians, all of them civilians. An previous girl, an previous man and there are others nonetheless lacking beneath the rubble.”

Gaza Metropolis, the Hamas militant group’s essential bastion within the territory, is now surrounded by Israeli forces. The navy mentioned troops have superior to the center of the town, whereas Hamas says its fighters have inflicted heavy losses.

TUNNEL NETWORK

Chief Israeli navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari mentioned fight engineers had been utilizing explosive gadgets to destroy a Hamas tunnel community that stretches for tons of of kilometres (miles) beneath Gaza.

In a press release on Wednesday, the navy mentioned it had destroyed 130 tunnel shafts thus far. “Fight engineers preventing in Gaza are destroying the enemy’s weapons and are finding, exposing and detonating tunnel shafts,” it mentioned.

Air strikes had additionally killed a Hamas weapons maker, Mahsein Abu Zina, and a number of other fighters, the Israeli navy mentioned.

Israeli tanks have met heavy resistance from Hamas fighters utilizing the tunnels to stage ambushes, in keeping with sources with the Iran-backed Hamas and separate Islamic Jihad militant teams. Israel says 33 of its troopers have been killed.

U.N. officers and G7 world powers stepped up appeals for a humanitarian pause within the struggle to assist alleviate the struggling of civilians in Gaza, the place complete neighbourhoods have been razed by Israeli bombardment and primary provides are operating out.

“It’s … vital to make Israel perceive that it’s towards (its) pursuits to see on daily basis the horrible picture of the dramatic humanitarian wants of the Palestinian individuals,” U.N. Secretary Common Antonio Guterres informed a Reuters NEXT convention on Wednesday. “That does not assist Israel in relation to the worldwide public opinion.”

Palestinian officers mentioned 10,569 individuals have now been killed, 40% of them kids. The extent of demise and struggling is “onerous to fathom”, U.N. well being company spokesperson Christian Lindmeier mentioned in Geneva.

Israel struck at Gaza in response to a cross-border Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 through which gunmen killed 1,400 individuals, principally civilians, and took about 240 hostages, in keeping with Israeli tallies.

Israel says it is not going to comply with a ceasefire earlier than the hostages are launched. Hamas says it is not going to cease preventing whereas Gaza, one of many world’s most densely populated locations, is beneath assault.

FLEEING THE BOMBS

Hundreds of Palestinians fleeing from the north wearily made their manner in an extended line previous wrecked and bomb-scarred buildings, witnesses mentioned.

The Israeli navy had informed them they need to transfer south of the Wadi Gaza wetlands alongside the primary Salah al-Din Street. Big numbers of displaced individuals from amongst Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants are already crammed into faculties, hospitals and different websites within the south.

Hundreds of others stay contained in the encircled north, together with at Gaza Metropolis’s essential Al Shifa hospital, the place Um Haitham Hejela was sheltering together with her younger kids in an improvised tent.

“The scenario is getting worse day after day,” she mentioned. “There isn’t a meals, no water. When my son goes to choose up water, he queues for 3 or 4 hours within the line. They struck bakeries, we do not have bread.”

Israel’s said intention is to wipe out Hamas, pounding Gaza from air, land and sea whereas floor troops have moved in to cleave the slim coastal strip in two in fierce city preventing amid the ruins of buildings.

Palestinian media reported clashes between militants and Israeli forces close to al-Shati (Seashore) refugee camp in Gaza Metropolis. Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, mentioned its fighters had destroyed an Israeli tank in Gaza Metropolis.

Reuters was unable to confirm the battlefield claims of both aspect.

There was no additional phrase from Israel on the doable destiny of Yahya Sinwar, essentially the most senior Hamas chief in Gaza and believed to be a key planner of the Oct. 7 assaults. Israel mentioned on Tuesday he had been cornered in his bunker.

ISRAELI PRESENCE ‘NOT UNLIMITED OR FOREVER’

Israel has thus far been obscure about its long-term plans if it achieves its said goal of vanquishing Hamas.

A senior Israeli official, talking on situation of anonymity, informed reporters in Washington late on Tuesday that Israel has no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip or controlling it for “a very long time”.

“We assess that our present operations are efficient and profitable, and we’ll proceed to push,” the official mentioned. “It isn’t limitless or without end.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed ABC information earlier this week Israel would search to have safety accountability for Gaza “for an indefinite interval”, prompting U.S. officers to warning towards an Israeli “reoccupation”.

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.