Israeli forces advance from the north and south into Gaza

In order to retake a region where they had claimed to have destroyed Hamas months before, Israeli soldiers advanced further into the ruins of Gaza’s northern frontier on Monday. Meanwhile, at the other end of the territory, tanks and infantry advanced across a highway into Rafah.

Thousands of Palestinians have fled once more as a result of the fierce fighting that has been occurring on Gaza’s northern and southern borders for several weeks. Relief organizations fear that the situation could quickly get worse.

Israel maintained that such operations had always been part of its plan and explained its most recent return to the north, where it withdrew the majority of its forces five months ago, as part of a “mop-up” stage of the battle to stop fighters from returning. Palestinians claim that Israel’s military goals are unachievable since the country must continue fighting among the remains of earlier conflicts.

Tanks drove toward the center of the neighborhood in the vast Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight camps established seventy-five years ago to house Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel. The camp’s center was being hit by tank shells, according to the residents, and some houses had been destroyed by airstrikes.

On Sunday, thick plumes of black smoke from explosions were visible rising over the northern part of Gaza from the Israeli border.

Israeli forces are attempting to destroy Hamas, which has declared its intention to destroy Israel. According to Israeli estimates, the extremist organization invaded Israel on October 7 and killed 1,200 people while capturing over 250 captives.

Gaza health experts estimate that more than 35,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, and they worry that many more are buried beneath the debris. The Gaza Health Ministry warned in a statement on Monday that the medical system is on the verge of collapsing owing to a shortage of gasoline to power generators and ambulances. The fighting has destroyed the coastal enclave and created a serious humanitarian crisis.

Health officials in Palestine reported on Monday that they had found 20 dead and several injured Palestinians from the airstrikes that occurred overnight on Jabalia.

Israel increased air and ground bombardments on the eastern parts of Rafah, Gaza, targeting the Egyptian border fence. An airstrike on a house in the Brazil neighborhood resulted in casualties.

Following an order from Israel last week to evacuate the eastern part of the city and its extension to the center sections in recent days, hundreds of thousands of people—the majority of whom are already displaced—flew in search of new shelters.

Residents reported that tanks had blocked the main Salahuddin Road, which runs north-south and separates the eastern and central parts of the city, and that Israeli air and ground shelling was getting worse.

Bassam, 57, of the Shaboura neighborhood in Rafah stated, “The tanks cut the Saladuddin road east of the city, the forces are now in the southeast side, building up near the built-up area, the situation is dreadful and the sounds of explosions never stopped.”

“People continue to leave Rafah, even far away near the western areas as no place looks safe now and also because people do not want to escape at the last minute should tanks make sudden incursions and moving out becomes too late,” he said using a messaging app for Reuters.

Since the Israeli military issued its initial order to evacuate the southern city one week ago, UNRWA, the primary United Nations relief organization in Gaza, estimated that over 360,000 people had left the area.