KHAN YOUNIS: At least 70 Palestinians have been killed and over 200 wounded following the launch of a new Israeli assault on eastern Khan Younis, according to health officials in Gaza.
The air attacks and artillery shelling come minutes after the military ordered the evacuation that Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza says affects more than 400,000 people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is travelling to the US, says Israel will dispatch negotiators to restart stalled captive exchange talks on Thursday. He did not specify the delegation’s destination.
At least 39,006 people have been killed and 89,818 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza. The death toll in Israel from Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 70 bodies have arrived at the Nasser Medical Complex since this morning after Israeli forces renewed their attacks on the city in the southern Strip.
The ministry added that more than 200 injured people, including serious cases, have arrived at the medical facility, which is located in Khan Younis.
Palestinians have offered prayers on the grounds of Nasser Hospital after Israeli tank shelling and air raids killed at least 57 people near Khan Younis.
The victims were killed by tank salvoes in the town of Bani Suheila and other towns just east of the southern city of Khan Younis, with the area also bombarded by air, according to medics.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said the dead included several women and children and that dozens of other people had been injured by Israeli fire.
Some 400,000 people are living in the targeted areas and dozens of families have begun to leave their houses, Palestinian officials said, adding that they were not given time to evacuate before the Israeli strikes began.
At Nasser Hospital, some people stood outside the morgue to bid farewell to dead relatives before burials.
“We are tired, we are tired in Gaza, every day our children are martyred, every day, every moment. This is the blood of our children, it has not yet dried,” said Ahmed Sammour, who lost several relatives in the Israeli bombing.
“No one told us to evacuate. They brought four floors crashing down on civilians … and the bodies they could reach, they brought to the refrigerator [morgue],” Sammour told Reuters.
Hamas denounces Israeli assault on Khan Younis
The group says the attack, which has killed and wounded dozens of people and displaced many families, will not deter Palestinians from remaining “steadfast in their land”.
“We call upon the international community and the United Nations to urgently intervene to stop the systematic Zionist killing of our people, who are facing a genocide,” Hamas said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
“We affirm that our people will remain steadfast, and the resistance will remain committed to confronting this criminal enemy that seeks to expel our people and obliterate our national cause.
“Gaza will remain unbreakable until the occupation is defeated on the path to freedom, return, and self-determination,” it said.
All US political parties serve ‘Israel’s interest’
Palestinians in Khan Younis say Biden’s withdrawal from the US presidential election will not make a difference to those living in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Their comments came after Biden’s decision to end his campaign and endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris, as his Democratic Party’s candidate.
One man, Abdel Nasser Mahmoud, told Reuters that all political parties in America “want Israel’s interest – nothing more, nothing less”.
“We have seen during the war America’s support to Israel with weapons. We have seen the massacres conducted by Israel with American weapons. We have seen how America used the right to veto [in the UN Security Council] in every decision that is supportive of the Palestinian people,” Mahmoud said.
“All political parties in America are supportive of who? They [are supportive] of the Israeli people. There is no difference between Biden or [Republican presidential candidate Donald] Trump. They all want Israel’s interest.”
Kawthar Adnan Hussein expressed a similar sentiment, saying: “Biden doesn’t mean anything to us because Biden or Trump, they have aided the war against Palestine. They are the basis of terrorism in all the countries. If he [Biden] came or if he left, it is not important for Palestine.”
