Thousands of Palestinians are persistently evacuating Gaza City as Israel’s significant ground onslaught against the region enters its second day.
During extensive overnight bombing, Gaza’s Hamas-operated health ministry said that al-Rantisi children’s hospital was struck in three distinct Israeli assaults, compelling half of its patients and their families to evacuate. The Israeli military stated it was investigating the report.
Other hospitals reported that at least 35 individuals had died due to Israeli fire throughout Gaza on Wednesday, predominantly in the northern region.
The Israeli military previously declared that it had targeted around 150 locations throughout Gaza City within a span of two days to bolster its ground soldiers.
Israel asserts that its objective is to liberate its prisoners and eliminate some 3,000 Hamas combatants in what it characterizes as the organization’s “final stronghold.” However, the military operation has elicited considerable global disapproval.
Leaders from over 20 prominent relief organizations, including Save the Children and Oxfam, cautioned that “the inhumanity of the situation in Gaza is unconscionable.”
As international leaders prepare to convene for the UN General Assembly next week, they have advocated for “immediate intervention.”
A source at al-Rantisi hospital reported no injuries; nevertheless, air conditioning units, water tanks, and solar panels sustained significant damage.
According to Fikr Shalltoot, the Gaza director of the NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians, the hospital is “the sole specialized facility for children with cancer, kidney failure, and other life-threatening conditions.”
For several days, as Israel has intensified its strikes in and around Gaza City, large groups of Palestinians have migrated southward using donkey carts, rickshaws, automobiles laden with possessions, and on foot.
Thus far, they have been compelled to evacuate along the primary coastal route to an Israel-designated “humanitarian area” at al-Mawasi.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the temporary opening of a second route for traffic – the central Salah al-Din road. The path will be accessible for 48 hours starting from 12:00 local time (10:00 BST).
A multitude of Palestinians report an inability to relocate south because of the escalating expenses linked to the voyage. It is reported that the rental cost of a compact truck currently amounts to approximately £660 ($900), and a tent for five individuals is priced at over £880 ($1200).
Lina al-Maghrebi, 32, a mother of three from the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, informed the Media: “I was compelled to sell my jewelry to finance the expenses of displacement and a tent.”
We spent 10 hours traveling to Khan Younis and incurred a cost of 3,500 shekels [£770] for the journey. The procession of automobiles and trucks appeared interminable.
Humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, and others assert that the designated “humanitarian area” is severely congested and inadequate to accommodate the approximately two million Palestinians anticipated to converge there.
Individuals who complied with the military’s evacuation instructions reported a lack of available space to set up their tents and subsequently returned north.
The IDF reported on Tuesday that approximately 350,000 individuals have evacuated Gaza City, but the UN estimated the number at 190,000 since August. Estimates indicate that a minimum of 650,000 persist.
The IDF is apparently employing modified antique military trucks equipped with explosives that can be controlled remotely. According to Israeli media, they are being transported to Hamas locations and subsequently detonated.
Simultaneously, families of the 48 hostages still held by Hamas—20 of whom are presumed to be alive—demonstrated near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday and Wednesday, contending that the military offensive would jeopardize their loved ones’ safety.
“You incessantly brag about annihilation and devastation,” stated Macabit Mayer, the aunt of captives Gali and Ziv Berman. “Demolishing structures in Gaza – upon whom are these edifices being dismantled?”
Pope Leo XIV stated that the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza are “unacceptable” and reiterated his demand for a ceasefire.
“I am profoundly connected to the Palestinian people of Gaza, who persist in living in fear and under intolerable conditions, compelled once more to abandon their land,” he stated during his weekly audience at the Vatican.
The European Commission, the principal executive body of the European Union, has suggested penalties on Israel due to its actions during the Gaza conflict and its initiative to develop the E1 settlement project, which would effectively bifurcate the occupied West Bank.
The plan entails the suspension of certain trade-related elements of the EU’s association agreement with Israel, alongside sanctions targeting “extremist ministers” within the Israeli government and violent Israeli settlements. The settlements contravene international law.
Israel has cautioned the EU against implementing the measures, which presently lack adequate backing from member states for approval.
The event occurs the day following a United Nations Commission of Inquiry’s determination that Israel perpetrated genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The findings indicated that Israeli security forces committed acts of sexual and gender-based violence, deliberately targeted minors with lethal intent, and executed a “systemic and widespread assault” on religious, cultural, and educational sites in Gaza.
Israel’s foreign ministry stated it unequivocally dismissed the report, condemning it as “distorted and false”.
Israel commenced its military operations in Gaza following the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, resulting in around 1,200 fatalities and 251 individuals taken hostage.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 64,964 individuals have been murdered by Israel during its war since then, with nearly half being women and children.
The UN has cautioned that an escalation of the attack will drive civilians into “even deeper catastrophe,” following the declaration of famine in Gaza City by a UN-supported food security organization.
