Israeli forces have moved south on the Gaza Strip, and early on Sunday morning there are supposed to have been ground battles between Hamas and Israeli soldiers inside the town of Khan Youni. The Palestinian militant group “Islamic Holy War” is also said to have participated in the campaign, according to sources in Hamas to the AFP news agency. Journalists affiliated with Reuters visited the ruins after an apartment building was hit in an attack on Sunday morning. A younger man says that his family, who are said to have been killed in the attack, considered evacuating further south yesterday, but chose to wait until today. – We considered going to Rafah or al-Mawasi, but we have heard that people have been killed in attacks in Rafah, so we wanted to wait until today, says Ahmed Abdel Wahab. Several residents of Khan Younis decided on Sunday to flee further south. Photo: SAID KHATIB / AFP There is great confusion about where it is actually safe to stay now. On Sunday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called in an emergency meeting, where the situation in Gaza was at the top of the agenda: – When more and more people are moved to smaller and smaller areas, it leads to overpopulation. Combined with a lack of enough food, water, shelter and sanitary conditions, these are ideal conditions for the spread of disease, he said. Residents in the “safe zone” in al-Mawasi also report diarrhea and vomiting, lack of water and sufficient food. Ghebreyesus added that the WHO has registered 448 attacks on health centers in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since October 7, in addition to 60 attacks in Israel: – The work of health workers is impossible, and they are in the middle of the firing line. “Human pinball” Israel has several times created areas that are supposed to be safe zones for civilians to stay in, but there have been conflicting messages about where these zones are. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reacts to civilians being asked to move at all, and especially between smaller land areas, where one does not have access to any of the basics one needs to survive. He called the whole thing a “human pinball game”. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN aid organization for Palestinians (UNRWA), wrote a column in the Los Angeles Times that he fears that the constant evacuation of Palestinians to the south is a strategy to push the people out of Gaza and into Egypt. – The next stage is underway, to force people out of the city center in Khan Younis, and closer to the Egyptian border, writes Lazzirini. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticizes Israel’s warfare and calls for better protection of civilians. Photo: Menahem KAHANA / AFP Both Guterres and Lazzarini are in Qatar on Sunday in connection with the international conference Doha Forum. Guterres repeated the message that the UN will work to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Shortly afterwards, this was rejected by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. He pointed out that one cannot both support the elimination of Hamas, which is Israel’s goal in the war, and at the same time ask for an end to the war. The UN cannot protect civilians UNRWA chief Lazzarini expressed concern that the UN can no longer protect civilians. About 1.2 million Palestinians are now seeking refuge in 156 of the UN’s crisis centers in the Gaza Strip. – People come to the UN to seek protection, but even the blue flag is no longer protected, Lazzarini said during his speech in Doha on Sunday. He called the situation the worst he had ever seen, and added that the world had failed the Palestinians. Guterres has repeatedly indicated that Israel has violated international law in its warfare on the Gaza Strip. This was taken up by the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh when he spoke during the conference: – If Israel is above international law, they should be sanctioned. Israel should not be allowed to continue violating both humanitarian law and international law, said Shtayyeh.
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The UN fears they can no longer protect civilians – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
