Israel struck the southern and central Gaza Strip yesterday to put more pressure on Hamas.
Two days after an Israeli strike turned a crowded swathe of Mawasi near the Mediterranean coast into a charred wasteland littered with burning cars and mangled bodies, displaced survivors said they had no idea where they should go next.
“Those moments as the ground shook underneath my feet and the dust and sand rose to the sky and I saw dismembered bodies – was like nothing I have seen in my life,” said Aya Mohammad, 30, a market seller in Mawasi, reached by mobile text message.
“Where to go is what everybody asks, and no one has the answer.”
Further south in Rafah, residents reported renewed fighting. Israeli forces in western and central parts of the city blew up several homes, they said. Medical officials said they recovered 10 bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in eastern areas of the city.
The military also stepped up aerial and tank shelling in central Gaza in the Al Bureij and Al Maghazi historic refugee camps.
Health officials said five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in Maghazi camp.
A statement from the Al Quds brigade, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, said its fighters were engaged in fierce battles in the Yabna camp in Rafah.
Later yesterday, in Deir Al Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where Israel hasn’t yet invaded and hundreds of thousands have taken refuge, the municipality issued an urgent statement saying it was no longer able to provide 700,000 people in the area with drinking water after running out of fuel.
“We urge citizens to preserve what is left in their private tankers and we stress the need to maintain the spirit of co-operation and sharing,” the statement said.
Citing a report by the United Nations Environment Programme, the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said in a post on X it would take 15 years to clear around 40 million tonnes of war rubble in Gaza. The effort would need 100-plus trucks and cost over $500m.
Meanwhile, a vessel located 97 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah reported being attacked by an uncrewed surface vessel, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said yesterday. UKMTO said the vessel and its crew were reported to be safe and were proceeding to their next port of call.
Also yesterday the United Nations said that it will start bringing in more armoured vehicles and personal protection equipment for its humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip after receiving approval from Israeli authorities.
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