GAZA BELT, Palestinian Territories: Explosions, air strikes and gunfire hit northern Gaza on Saturday. It was the third day of an Israeli military operation that has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians and worsened what the UN called “intolerable” living conditions in the territory.
An AFP correspondent reported ongoing explosions in the Shujaiya area near Gaza City, and one resident said bodies were seen in the streets.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said its operations were continuing in Shujaiya, where a “large number” of fighters had been killed in fighting “above and underground.”
The renewed outbreak of fighting in the area came months after Israel announced the dissolution of the command structure of Hamas militants in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Last Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “intense phase” of the war was ending after almost nine months, but experts believe the next phase could be prolonged.
The war in Gaza has also led to rising tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, prompting Iran on Saturday to warn of a “devastating” war if Israel attacks Lebanon.
According to AFP data based on Israeli data, the war began on October 7 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians.
The militants also took hostages, 116 of whom are still in the Gaza Strip, although the army reports 42 of them are dead.
In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, at least 37,834 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to health ministry data. At least 69 deaths have been reported in the past 48 hours.
Mohammed Harara, 30, said he and his family, young and old, felt they would become part of that sacrifice.
He said they fled their home in Shujaiya with nothing “due to the bombings of Israeli planes, tanks and drones” and barely survived.
“We couldn’t take anything out of the house. We left food, flour, canned goods, mattresses and blankets,” Harara said.
Israel’s military said Friday it was carrying out “targeted airstrikes” supported by airstrikes against Hamas militants in the Shujaiya area.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA estimated that “around 60,000-80,000 people” were displaced from the area this week.
AFPTV footage on Saturday showed men carrying items on a donkey cart. Some people were pushed in wheelchairs. Children walked with backpacks past piles of dusty rubble.
“I saw a tank in front of the Shuhada Mosque shooting” at targets, Abdelkareem Al-Mamluk said. “There were martyrs in the street.”
On Friday, Hamas and the armed arm of the Palestinian militant organization Islamic Jihad reported fighting in the city of Shujaiya.
Elsewhere on the coast, the civil defense agency said Saturday that four bodies had been recovered from an apartment following an Israeli attack in the central region.
Further south, in the Rafah area, witnesses reported dead and wounded after a new attack by Israeli troops.
Tarek Qandeel, director of a medical center in al-Maghazi in central Gaza, said the facility was badly damaged in a bombing raid on a neighboring house, making it the latest medical facility in Gaza to be affected by the war.
The United Nations in a report on Friday, citing Gaza’s health ministry, said that “about 70 percent of health infrastructure was destroyed.”
UN spokeswoman Louise Wateridge also said via video link that she had just returned to central Gaza after four weeks outside Gaza.
“It’s really unbearable,” she said, describing the “significantly worsened” situation.
“There is no water, no sewage, no food,” and people are returning to live in “empty shells” of buildings.
With a lack of bathrooms, “they’re relieving themselves wherever they can,” Wateridge said.
The UN says most of Gaza’s population has been displaced, but the effects of the war have also forced the displacement of people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, where the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and Israeli forces exchange fire almost daily.
Such exchanges have intensified this month, with belligerent rhetoric on both sides.
The Israeli military said plans for an offensive on Lebanon had been “approved and approved,” prompting Hezbollah to respond that no Israel would be spared in the event of a full-blown conflict.
In a post on social media on Saturday, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said it viewed Israel’s threats to “attack” Lebanon as “psychological warfare.”
But he added that such a move would lead to a “devastating” war that could involve “all resistance fronts,” a reference to Iran-backed groups in the region.
Among them are Yemeni Houthi fighters who have been attacking international shipping in the Red Sea for months. The Houthi say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
On Friday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a “direct hit” on an oil tanker in the Red Sea, but the maritime security agency run by Britain’s Royal Navy reported no damage.
The U.S. Navy has responded to attacks on Houthi targets, and on Friday the U.S. military said its forces had destroyed seven drones and a command station vehicle in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen over the previous day.
