Israeli-Hamas war: The Israeli military said that it has expanded its ground offensive against the Hamas terrorists to “every part” of the Gaza Strip, after the army resumed its operations on Friday after a weeklong ceasefire ended. The Israeli military has now begun carrying out airstrikes in the southern Gaza as well, after focusing its ground operation on the northern part of Gaza in recent weeks.
A large majority of Gaza’s population has fled to the south in pursuit of safety, however, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said late Sunday that the troops were also expanding into the south.
“The Israeli army is continuing and expanding the ground operation against the Hamas presence in every part of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The military has ordered more evacuations in the south, as it vowed that operations against Hamas would be “no less strength” there than its earlier offensive in the north.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip said that they were fleeing out of places to go in the sealed-off territory that borders Israel and Egypt.
Several Gazans flee into the south
Several of its 2.3 million people ran into the south after Israel ordered the civilians to leave the north when the war had begun in October after attack by Hamas and other terrorists, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians in southern Israel.
According to the United Nations estimates, 1.8 million Gazans have been displaced so far.
Director of communications at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Juliette Toma said that nearly 958,000 of them were in 99 UN facilities in the south.
Heavy bombardment was reported around Gaza's second-largest city of Khan Younis in the south and the nearby city of Rafah.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the death count there has surpassed 15,500 since October 7. Over 41,000 people had been wounded, it added.
(With AP inputs)
