According to the Israeli military, Khan Younis in southern Gaza is surrounded. The second-biggest city in the area has seen intense conflict recently, resulting in the deaths and injuries of numerous Palestinians. Top Hamas figures could be hidden beneath the city in tunnels, according to Israeli sources. Yehya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, was born and raised in Khan Younis; his current whereabouts are unknown. The encirclement was declared by the military in a statement on Tuesday.
Following its highest-ever daily death toll in the Palestinian enclave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that his country would not abandon its war in Gaza until it achieved “absolute victory”. Intense combat in the southern and central Gaza Strip on Monday resulted in the deaths of 24 soldiers. Israel has been targeting Hamas’s last bastions and attempting to clear regions close to the border, as reported by Reuters. Twenty-one troops lost their lives in one of the border locations when a building fell due to an explosion. The high death toll may give voices calling for Israel to halt or at least slow down the offensive fresh life. The Israeli government was under pressure to stop previous military operations due to the high number of Israeli casualties.
Hezbollah claims to have hit a northern Israeli command centre
In reaction to “recent assassinations and repeated attacks on civilians” in Lebanon and Syria, the militant Lebanese organisation Hezbollah claimed to have attacked the Israeli army’s northern command centre on Tuesday. It claimed to have launched a “large number” of missiles against the Mount Meron facility, marking the second such attack since the extraordinary October 7 raid on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which precipitated the Gaza War. It began on January 6 in reaction to the murder of Saleh al-Aruri, the deputy head of Hamas, in an attack in Beirut that was mostly attributed to Israel.
Time is running out to send the hostages home alive, according to the families of the captives and many of their supporters, who have urged on Israel to negotiate a cease-fire agreement. Numerous relatives of hostages disrupted a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday, demanding an agreement to secure the release of their loved ones.
As forces raid a Gaza hospital, the US demands that Israel protect the innocent
As Israeli forces advanced deep into western Khan Younis in Gaza on Monday, they stormed one hospital and besieged another, demanding that Israel safeguard patients, medical workers, and innocent bystanders. According to locals, southern Gaza has never seen such a heavy air, land, or sea assault since the war’s start in October. First, troops moved into the Al-Mawasi region, west of Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza, close to the Mediterranean shore. According to a spokesman for the Gaza health ministry, Ashraf al Qidra, they raided the Al-Khair hospital and arrested the medical workers there (Reuters).
195 Palestinians killed and 354 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the last 24 hours: Health ministry in Gaza. At least 25,490 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct 7.
By: Gursharan Kaur