Israeli army surrounds the city of Chan Junis in the south of the Gaza Strip
Israeli tanks, military transporters and bulldozers were deployed near Chan Junis, eyewitnesses told the AFP news agency on Tuesday. Numerous civilians fled the fighting on foot, on motorcycles, carts or in overloaded cars.
The Israeli counter-attacks triggered by the major attack on Israel by the radical Islamic group Hamas on October 7 had been concentrated on the north of the Gaza Strip for weeks. However, the south had also come under heavy fire at the weekend.
Sources in Hamas and the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad told AFP that their fighters were involved in battles with Israeli soldiers to prevent them from entering Khan Yunis and the surrounding areas. According to the Hamas government, dozens of people were killed or injured in heavy attacks on areas east of Khan Yunis on Wednesday night.
Six people were killed and 14 others injured in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
On Wednesday morning, the Israeli army announced on the online service X (formerly Twitter) that several Hamas commanders had been killed in an airstrike near an Indonesian-run hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip.
In the online service Telegram, the army stated that it had now killed "most of the senior commanders" of Hamas' armed wing, which operated from a network of tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip.
On 7 October, hundreds of fighters from Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, entered Israel and committed atrocities, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli reports, around 1200 people were killed in Israel and around 240 people were taken hostage. It was the most serious attack on Israel since the state was founded 75 years ago.
In response, Israel launched massive attacks on targets in the densely populated Gaza Strip. According to the latest figures from Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, more than 16,200 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since then, most of them civilians.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has also increased since the start of the war. Early on Wednesday morning, Israeli soldiers stormed the Faraa refugee camp. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, two Palestinians aged 16 and 18 were killed in the operation. According to Palestinian reports, at least 257 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army or Israeli settlers in the West Bank since October 7.
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The Israeli Army's operations in the Gaza Strip were not limited to the north, as the south of Chan Junis also experienced heavy firing over the weekend. The civilian exodus from Chan Junis included individuals using various modes of transportation like foot, motorcycles, carts, and overloaded cars.
Hamas and the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad revealed their fighters engaged in confrontations with Israeli soldiers to safeguard Khan Yunis and its surroundings. According to the Hamas government, this led to heavy casualties in the areas east of Khan Yunis.
Tension in the Gaza Strip escalated when Hamas launched a major attack on Israel on October 7, resulting in the tragic loss of over 1200 lives and hostages in Israel. Israel retaliated by launching intense attacks on targets in the densely populated Gaza Strip, affecting the civilian population.
The Israeli military, in its announcements on the online service X, claimed the elimination of several high-ranking Hamas commanders in airstrikes near an Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip's north.
According to the Israeli army's statement on the Telegram platform, they have successfully eliminated "most of the senior commanders" of Hamas' armed wing, operating from tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army's counter-operations in Gaza Strip were triggered by the attacks orchestrated by Hamas, a terrorist organization classified by both the USA and EU.
Civilians in the Gaza Strip, surrounded by the Israeli military operations, continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, with over 16,200 reported deaths and most of them being civilians since the escalation began.
Source: www.stern.de
