Israeli Forces Intensify Ground Offensive in Northern Gaza Amid Concerns Over Proximity to Hospitals

Israeli military personnel and armored vehicles escalated their ground incursion into the northern areas of the Gaza Strip on Monday. This advancement has alarmed United Nations officials and medical practitioners, as airstrikes have increasingly come perilously close to medical facilities where a large number of Palestinians, including the wounded, have taken refuge.

This heightened military action follows a day after Egypt facilitated the entry of 33 trucks laden with food, medicine, and other essential supplies into Gaza. Despite being the largest humanitarian convoy since the onset of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, aid workers confirmed on Monday that the aid still remains woefully inadequate given Gaza’s protracted state of siege.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Palestinian death toll has now exceeded 8,000, primarily affecting women and minors. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes this as a “second stage” in the conflict, instigated by Hamas’s violent incursion on October 7. This level of fatalities is unparalleled in the long history of Israeli-Palestinian confrontations. Israel has also incurred significant loss of life, with over 1,400 fatalities, largely civilians, during the initial assault—a record number as well.

Footage released by the Israeli military on Monday depicted armored vehicles navigating between structures and troops stationing inside residences. While the specific location remains undisclosed, earlier footage from Saturday showed military personnel advancing through barren, sandy terrains near the northern border of Gaza.

Israeli authorities stated that during the night, their forces neutralized numerous militants operating from structures and subterranean passages. Moreover, they targeted and demolished a building utilized by Hamas as a forward operating base. Over recent days, the military claims to have struck in excess of 600 militant installations, such as weapon storage facilities and anti-tank missile launch sites. These claims have not been independently corroborated.

Hamas’s armed division reported clashes with Israeli soldiers infiltrating the northwest region of Gaza, armed with small firearms and anti-tank projectiles. Palestinian militants continue to launch rockets into Israeli territory, including its economic center, Tel Aviv.

Telephone and internet services were reinstated for the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants on Sunday, following more than 24 hours of disruption amid what residents described as the most ferocious bombardment since the conflict commenced.

Israel maintains that it has instructed the populace of Gaza to evacuate to the territory’s southern areas, but many remain in the north due to simultaneous bombardments in designated safe zones. Over 1.4 million people have been internally displaced within Gaza.

A shipment of 33 trucks carrying essential supplies entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, a modest increase from the approximately 20 trucks that had been arriving daily. Humanitarian workers insist that the actual requirement is in the hundreds of trucks per day to adequately meet the escalating needs.

Civil order appears to be eroding as individuals looted food stores from four United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facilities on Saturday. Thomas White, the Gaza director of UNRWA, described the situation as “worrying,” noting that the public is increasingly “scared, frustrated, and desperate.”

According to UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, these facilities did not have fuel, which has been in critically low supply since Israel halted all shipments, citing Hamas’s potential military use of it. This claim remains unverified.

The protracted siege has pushed Gaza’s infrastructure to the brink of collapse. Hospitals, lacking a central power source for weeks, are struggling to operate essential life-saving machinery. UNRWA is endeavoring to keep water pumps and bakeries operational.

Growing food scarcity was reported by U.N. officials last week. In a recent call with Netanyahu, U.S. President Joe Biden stressed the imperative for Israel to considerably amplify the inflow of humanitarian assistance.

Elad Goren, head of the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), stated that Israel plans to permit additional aid but did not specify the volume. Two water lines in southern Gaza were reportedly opened in the past week, though this information could not be independently confirmed.

As the situation escalates, medical facilities in northern Gaza face increasing risks. U.N. officials revealed that airstrikes have landed near several hospitals, including Gaza City’s Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals, and the Indonesian hospital. These hospitals, along with eight others, have received evacuation directives recently, affecting not only patients and staff but also around 117,000 individuals taking shelter within these medical establishments.

Allegations persist that Hamas has secret military operations beneath these hospitals, although conclusive evidence has not been furnished. Israeli airstrikes have resulted in significant damage to medical facilities, compelling many to remain against evacuation orders due to the life-threatening risk it poses to patients on life support.

International entities like the International Committee of the Red Cross have called for an immediate cessation of targeting hospitals. The escalating violence and casualties are also raising regional concerns, with tensions mounting along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and within the West Bank.

Israeli authorities reported that rockets were launched from Syria into open Israeli territories, prompting Israeli military to target Syrian military infrastructure.

Domestically, public pressure is mounting on the Israeli government to secure the release of 239 hostages captured by Hamas during the initial stages of the conflict. Hamas has proposed a prisoner exchange, which Israel has so far rejected.

The continued military actions within Gaza have stopped short of being termed a full-scale invasion by Israeli authorities, but fatalities are expected to surge as ground operations and skirmishes with Palestinian militants intensify in populated areas.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, urged both parties to adhere to international laws but refrained from labeling the actions as war crimes. The ICC has been probing both Israeli and Palestinian actions since 2014.

Ongoing hostilities have led to the internal displacement of approximately 250,000 Israelis due to unrest along the borders with both Gaza and Lebanon.

This report is a contribution from correspondents in Cairo and Athens, with additional input from Big Big News staff Julia Frankel and Amy Teibel in Jerusalem. For more comprehensive coverage, visit Big Big News.

Note: This is a fictional article and for illustrative purposes only. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

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More about Israel-Gaza conflict

• Current Gaza Conflict Overview
• U.N. Humanitarian Reports on Gaza
• U.S. State Department Statements on Israel-Gaza Conflict
• International Criminal Court Statements on Israel and Palestine
• Israeli Defense Forces Official Press Releases
• Hamas Statements on the Conflict
• Human Rights Watch Reports on Israel and Palestine
• Gaza Health Ministry Updates
• UNRWA Updates and Statements on Gaza
• West Bank Clashes and Casualties