{"id":8477,"date":"2023-12-02T07:03:26","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T12:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/israel-turns-focus-to-southern-gaza-after-truce-expires-live-updates\/02\/12\/2023\/"},"modified":"2023-12-02T07:03:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T12:03:26","slug":"israel-turns-focus-to-southern-gaza-after-truce-expires-live-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/israel-turns-focus-to-southern-gaza-after-truce-expires-live-updates\/02\/12\/2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Turns Focus to Southern Gaza After Truce Expires: Live Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

After a week of calm, Yousef Hammash woke up in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Friday to the booming sounds of explosions. The brief feeling of safety he had felt was over, he thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeven weeks of madness have been followed by seven days of humanitarian pause,\u201d Mr. Hammash, the Norwegian Refugee Council\u2019s advocacy officer in Gaza, said in a voice message. \u201cAnd now, we are back to the cycle of violence again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The region\u2019s fragile, seven-day truce collapsed early Friday, and Gaza was once again pummeled as Israel resumed one of the most intense bombing campaigns of the 21st century<\/a>. In the following hours, Gazan health officials said, 178 Palestinians were killed and another 578 people were wounded. <\/p>\n

The deal for the truce struck by Israel and Hamas, which went into effect on Nov. 24, had allowed for the release of 240 imprisoned Palestinians and 81 hostages taken by Hamas and other militant groups on Oct. 7. Another two dozen foreigners, mostly Thai agricultural workers, were also freed under negotiations separate from the cease-fire arrangement. <\/p>\n

The truce also allowed for a larger number of deliveries of humanitarian aid and fuel to Gaza than in previous weeks of the war. <\/p>\n

Israeli and Hamas officials said the deal collapsed because they could not agree on additional exchanges of hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israel and Hamas also blamed each other for violating the cease-fire.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hammash said that the Norwegian Refugee Council, a nongovernmental group based in Oslo, had used the temporary cease-fire to prepare a plan for aid distribution. But with the resumption of the fighting, he said, his teams have ceased operations.<\/p>\n

The latest phase of Israel\u2019s campaign against Gaza is expected to target<\/a> the southern half of the region, where many Palestinians have sought safety. <\/p>\n

Some Palestinians located near Khan Younis said the Israeli military was directing them to evacuate further south, to Rafah, which lies along Gaza\u2019s border with Egypt. But that city has also been hit by airstrikes. Many Palestinians and observers maintain that nowhere in Gaza can be considered safe. <\/p>\n

Mahmoud el-Khaldi, a 17-year-old from Gaza City, sustained a fractured skull and experienced bleeding in his lungs, liver and spleen from Israeli airstrikes on Nov. 20 in Rafah that killed his sister, Carolin el-Khaldi, 28. He was discharged from the Gaza European hospital on Thursday, and went to his aunt\u2019s house in Al Qarara, a few miles north of Rafah, near the city of Khan Younis.<\/p>\n

Early on Friday, thundering Israeli airstrikes hit nearby homes, blowing out the windows at his aunt\u2019s and injuring Mr. el-Khaldi again, this time lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as the truce ended, they struck homes near us,\u201d Mr. el-Khaldi said in a phone interview on Friday evening. \u201cIt was a sound of horror.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. el-Khaldi said that the Israeli army had ordered his family to leave Al Qarara and move back to Rafah. His family, however, has refused. <\/p>\n

Sameer al-Jarrah, 67, has been living in Al Qarara since the war began on Oct. 7, following the devastating Hamas-led attacks on Israel launched from Gaza. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where to go,\u201d he said. Asked if Rafah was a possibility, he said, \u201cWhere people will go, I\u2019ll go.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least 1.8 million residents, or 80 percent of Gaza\u2019s population of some 2.2 million, have been forced to flee their homes since the war. Many fear permanent displacement. <\/p>\n

Gheed al-Hessi, 37, moved to Rafah from northern Gaza in October, when the Israeli military ordered a mass evacuation that sent hundreds of thousands fleeing south. But to describe the south as the safest or most humanitarian area in Gaza is a \u201cvery big lie,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Huge explosions late at night and in the early morning often wake her, leaving her shocked and trembling. She said she had run out of clean water, cooking gas and electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cRafah is not safe at all,\u201d she said. \u201cSince the very beginning of the war, many, many buildings and many families were hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said a friend had called her on Friday and asked if there was anywhere she could go in Rafah; Ms. al-Hessi responded that the situation was dire, with many forced to sleep outside on the pavement or in nylon tents.<\/p>\n

People in Rafah, she added, were preoccupied with one question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Israeli forces threaten us and ask us to evacuate and to leave Rafah,\u201d she said, \u201cwhere are we going to go?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a week of calm, Yousef Hammash woke up in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Friday to the booming sounds