The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of part of a populated area in the Gaza Strip that it had designated a humanitarian zone, while the Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the nine-month war.
The military said Monday it plans an operation against Hamas militants who have embedded themselves in the area and used it to fire rockets toward Israel. The area includes the eastern part of the Muwasi humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.
Earlier this month, Israel said so estimates that there are at least one million Palestinians They are now in the humanitarian zone that covers about 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) along the Mediterranean. Much of the area is filled with tent camps who lack health and medical facilities and have limited access to aid.
The announcements came during delicate negotiations seeking a ceasefire. Egypt, Qatar and the United States are pushing Israel and Hamas toward a gradual agreement that would stop the fighting and free the remaining hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said a negotiating team will be sent to continue talks on Thursday.
Netanyahu left on Monday for Washington, where he will deliver a speech to the US Congress and meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Here’s the latest:
UNITED NATIONS – Families have begun fleeing an eastern part of Gaza towards the already overcrowded Deir al Balah, and in southern Khan Younis, the Nasser Medical Complex issued a new call for blood donations for dozens of new victims on Monday says the UN.
The Israeli military ordered the evacuation early Monday of part of the eastern area that had been designated a humanitarian zone, saying it was planning an operation against Hamas militants there.
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said U.N. humanitarian officials report that frequent evacuation orders and relentless hostilities are further devastating Gaza’s health system, making it increasingly difficult for people who have been repeatedly displaced access essential services.
He said humanitarian officials are also warning that aid workers in Gaza continue to face enormous risk.
The U.N. spokesman noted that Israeli forces fired on a clearly marked U.N. convoy from the agency that helps Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA that was heading north toward Gaza City on Sunday.
According to Dujarric, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini reported that UNRWA personnel had to duck and one of the UN armored vehicles was severely damaged while waiting just in front of the Israeli forces checkpoint south of Wadi Gaza.
“He said that the movement of the convoy was coordinated with the Israeli authorities and that those responsible for yesterday’s incident must be held accountable,” Dujarric said.
UN humanitarian officials also report serious water shortages in Gaza.
Between July 8 and 21, Dujarric said, the average daily water supply in the territory was about 90,000 cubic meters, about a quarter of the amount produced before Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on July 7. October, which sparked the ongoing war.
“Infrastructure damage, lack of electricity and shortages of fuel, spare parts and chlorine continue to hamper water production and purification, as well as wastewater pumping,” Dujarric said.
The number of victims in Gaza since the war began now exceeds 39,000. This is stated by the Gaza Ministry of Health. The ministry does not distinguish between Palestinian civilians and combatants in its count.
The new death toll comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden and address Congress to make his case in the nine-month war against Hamas.
Fresh Israeli strikes near the southern town of Khan Younis killed at least 37 people on Monday, according to the ministry, the Nasser Hospital morgue and journalists who saw the bodies. The attacks came as hundreds of people were being evacuated following a new order from the Israeli army.
TEL AVIV, Israel – The Israeli military announced Monday the deaths of two Israeli hostages detained in Gaza.
The military said it had determined the deaths of Yagev Buchshtab, 35, and Alex Dancyg, 76, who were kidnapped from their homes in southern Israel on Oct. 7, based on intelligence information.
The military did not say when the hostages died.
Dancyg, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, turned 76 on Sunday. According to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, Dancyg worked for more than 30 years at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and spent his time in captivity giving history lectures to other hostages.
Yagev Buchstab, 35, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7 along with his wife, Rimon Buchshtab-Kirsht. Rimon was released during the November ceasefire agreement after 50 days in captivity.
There are still approximately 120 hostages held in Gaza, although Israel believes more than 40 are no longer alive.
Monday’s announcement. increases the pressure to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accept a ceasefire proposal that could secure the return of the hostages still in Gaza and put an end the nine month war.
Netanyahu left for a trip to the United States on Monday morning, accompanied by some of the hostages’ families and the freed hostages. Other families of the hostages pleaded with Netanyahu to reach a deal before he left for the trip, worried that time was running out.
A negotiating team will be sent to continue talks on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — Thousands of Palestinians gathered their belongings and once again began evacuating part of the area of the Gaza Strip designated by the Israeli army as a zone humanitarian zone.
“We were displaced from the eastern regions, we were called to evacuate, we took our children and left,” said Osama Qudeih. “There was no safe place left in the Gaza Strip… We went out walking the streets, not knowing where to go.” Thousands of families laden with backpacks and children walked along dusty roads under the scorching summer sun, driving beat-up cars filled with belongings tied to the roof.
Another woman collapsed exhausted after saying it was her seventh or eighth displacement. “Every day we are displaced,” said Kholoud al-Dadas, as he hugged his children. “Where are the countries? Where is the world, where are the presidents, where are they? Come and see how we are, our children and what is happening to us.”
The area planned for evacuation included the eastern part of the al-Muwasi humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military called for an evacuation because it said Hamas militants had embedded themselves in the area and were launching frequent rockets into Israel.
Additionally, one person was killed and three wounded in an attack outside Al Aqsa hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah on Monday morning, according to an Associated Press journalist who was at the scene.
Overnight, at least 15 people, including four women and six children, were killed in attacks in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials and a body count by an Associated Press journalist. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
TEL AVIV, Israel – The Israeli military said one person died after trying to stab Israeli security forces with a knife at the entrance to an Israeli town along the border with Gaza on Monday morning.
According to Israel Army Radio, the attacker arrived at the security checkpoint by car and in English began accusing Israel of carrying out atrocities in Gaza, before reaching into his car and pulling out a knife. Security forces shot and killed the man. No other injuries were reported.
The attack took place at the entrance to the Israeli town of Netiv Haasara, which is just 300 meters (yards) north of the border with Gaza. Israeli police confirmed that the attacker was a Canadian citizen.
On October 7, Netiv HaAsara was attacked and 20 residents were killed, after gunmen crossed the concrete border wall using paragliders, according to Israeli military officials. Israel has experienced a wave of knife attacks across the country during the nine-month war in Gaza, although few have taken place along the Israel-Gaza border, which has a heavy military presence.
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for Washington on Monday, leaving behind a brutal war deliver a politically precarious speech before the United States Congress at a time of great uncertainty following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race.
While efforts are made to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamasraising concerns about the war spreading to Lebanon and Yemenand the United States in the middle of a dizzying election campaignNetanyahu’s speech has the potential to cause disorder on both sides of the ocean.
The risks only increased with Biden’s decision on Sunday to drop out of the presidential race, especially as the election of a substitute Democratic candidate – and the potential next American leader – are still up in the air.
Before boarding the plane, Netanyahu said he would emphasize the theme of Israel’s bipartisanship in his speech and said Israel would remain the United States’ key ally in the Middle East “regardless of who the American people elect as their next president.”
“In this time of war and uncertainty, it is important for Israel’s enemies to know that the United States and Israel stand together,” he said, adding that he will meet with Biden during his trip and thank him for his support of Israel.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address Congress on Wednesday. He is also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
JERUSALEM – The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen early Sunday, hours after Israeli warplanes attacked several Houthi targets in the Arabian Peninsula country.
The Israeli airstrikes, in response to a deadly Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv, were the first known time that Israel responded to repeated Houthi attacks throughout its history. nine month war against Hamas. The outbreak of violence between distant enemies has threatened to open a new front as Israel battles a series of conflicts. Iranian representatives throughout the region.
The Israeli military on Saturday night confirmed airstrikes on the western Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, a Houthi stronghold and crucial entry point for aid and other supplies. It said the strikes, carried out by dozens of aircraft, including American-made F-15 and F-35 fighter jets, were a response to hundreds of Houthi attacks.
Yemen’s Health Ministry said the Israeli strikes killed six people and injured 83 others, many of them with severe burns from a large fire. Three other people were missing, the ministry said in a statement shared by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
