Heavy fighting continues in the south of the Gaza Strip
The Israeli military continued its airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The Hamas Ministry of Health reported that 210 people had been killed by Israeli attacks within 24 hours.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that an additional brigade had been sent to the city of Chan Junis. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported renewed shelling on Thursday near the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, in which at least ten people were killed.
Explosive fire had already been seen in the sky over Chan Junis on Wednesday night, and eyewitnesses spoke of fighting on the ground. The largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip has been a focus of Israeli attacks since the army said it had largely taken control of the north of the Palestinian territory.
The Gaza war began on October 7 with an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel. Hundreds of Hamas fighters committed atrocities, according to Israeli figures around 1140 people were killed and 250 others were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. 129 hostages are still in the Palestinian territory.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel has been attacking targets in the Gaza Strip ever since. According to the latest figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 21,320 people have been killed so far.
According to the Israeli army, 167 of its soldiers have been killed in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
In the aftermath of the Hamas attack, Israel largely cut off food, water, fuel and medicine from the Gaza Strip. Only a few humanitarian aid convoys are able to enter the Palestinian territory via Egypt, meaning that the plight of the civilian population continues to worsen.
French President Macron held a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday about the possibility of a permanent ceasefire. In the coming days, France will work with Jordan to carry out "humanitarian operations" in the Gaza Strip, the French presidential office said after the conversation. Macron expressed his deep concern to Netanyahu "about the very high number of victims" and the great humanitarian need of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
The war has also reignited tensions in the region as a whole - especially on the border between Israel and Lebanon, where there have been exchanges of fire with the Iranian-backed Shia militia Hezbollah. Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stated that his army was "at a very high level of preparation for an expansion of the fighting in the north".
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Source: www.stern.de
