In light of the Israeli army’s call to evacuate Gaza City, the United Nations has called for unconditional protection of civilians. “These citizens must be protected and their essential needs addressed whether they have fled or stayed,” said the Geneva-based UN emergency relief agency OCHA. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York that all parties involved in the Gaza conflict must respect international humanitarian law at all times. The level of fighting and destruction in recent days during the ongoing ceasefire talks is “truly shocking.
Calls to flee are usually a sign of impending new Israeli military operations. Israeli media and local residents reported that the army distributed leaflets in Gaza City on Wednesday, urging people to leave the affected areas. According to residents, most of the victims refuse to leave the areas.
Israeli troops were already fighting in the northern city of the Gaza Strip at the start of the war. Meanwhile, militants of the Islamist Hamas are trying to regroup there and elsewhere. The city was badly affected by the massive destruction caused by the war.
Impact on humanitarian assistance
OCHA warned that such “evacuation orders” have repeatedly had a negative impact on humanitarian assistance to the people of the Gaza Strip. The office expressed concern that the order would “increase massive suffering for Palestinian families, many of whom have been displaced multiple times.”
Intensified fighting in Gaza City has led to the “biggest exodus since October,” the World Food Program (WFP) said in X. Kitchens supported by the UN system are often the only food for families. However, the unpredictability of regional limits helps.
General situation
According to Dujarric, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, briefed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the situation in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Hadi had previously returned to the war zone. Hadi was quoted as saying, “When I entered and exited Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, I saw firsthand the consequences of the breakdown of public order and security.”
He found them waiting for trucks that wanted to go to the coast through Kerem Shalom in the south. All the trucks were badly damaged with “smashed windshields, windshields and hoods.” Packets of fortified flour from the WFP and the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA lay strewn on the side of the road. Hadi also witnessed the massive destruction of the city of San Yun.
Across the Gaza Strip, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and settlements due to fighting between the Israeli army and the Islamist Hamas. On October 7, 2023, the Gaza War was triggered by an unprecedented massacre in Israel by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups, with more than 1,200 deaths. According to the Hamas-controlled Health Authority, more than 38,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began. The figure, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, cannot currently be independently verified.
Fighting in Gaza City overshadows negotiations
A resumption of heavy fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip has overshadowed informal negotiations for a ceasefire. It also includes the release of Hamas prisoners in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The latest round of talks held in the Qatari capital Doha is seen as crucial in determining whether a deal can be reached between Hamas and Israel. After weeks of deadlock, there have been recent signs of progress in the difficult negotiations.
Hamas had earlier demanded a ceasefire as a precondition for a hostage deal. But the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unwilling to do this. The United States, Egypt and Qatar mediate between the warring parties.
US wants to resupply heavy bombs to Israel
According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, the United States may soon want to deliver 500-pound bombs to Israel, which President Joe Biden’s administration halted a few weeks ago. It quoted US government officials as saying the bombs could be shipped to Israel in the coming weeks. “The 2,000-pound bombs that are part of the same ship continue to be suspended.”
The United States stopped supplying heavy bombs to Israel’s military to force it to spare civilians during an attack on the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. At the end of June, the Israeli Defense Minister said that after talks in Washington, the embargo on ammunition supplies had been lifted. (DBA)
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