Intense fighting erupted Saturday in Gaza’s Khan Yunis, the primary conflict zone where the Israeli army is targeting the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas.
The continued fighting came a day after the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague declared that Israel must avoid probable acts of genocide in the conflict but did not call for a cease-fire.
Tensions erupted between Israel and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after Israel claimed that numerous UNRWA officials were implicated in the October 7 Hamas assault, prompting some important donor countries to withhold financing.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated on Saturday that Israel intends to ensure that the UN agency, which has tens of thousands of staff in Gaza, “will not be a part of the day after” the bloodiest Gaza war ever.
Concerns have grown over the fate of citizens in Khan Yunis, the southern birthplace of Hamas’ Gaza head Yahya Sinwar, the suspected mastermind of the October 7 bombings.
Witnesses reported additional heavy fighting in the city on Saturday, and the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said “135 martyrs arrived at hospitals due to massacres throughout the night”.
The Hamas government’s news office reported a “massive tank bombardment since the morning” against a refugee camp and the Nasser hospital.
According to Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal, tens of Palestinians, including children, were subjected to a relentless and freezing rain overnight.
The inclement weather threatened to spread “contagious diseases” and exacerbate the “humanitarian crisis for the two million people displaced across the strip,” he warned.
Suhaila Asfur, a displaced lady, told AFP that her family was unable to sleep due to the severe rain and that “I don’t know what we will do tonight or where we will sleep”.
UN court ruling
The UN’s top court issued a highly anticipated verdict on Friday, saying Israel must prohibit genocidal acts in Gaza and let humanitarian aid into the short strip of territory, which has been under constant bombing and siege for nearly four months.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the case “outrageous,” but Gaza’s Hamas authorities welcomed the decision, saying it “contributes to isolating Israel and exposing its crimes in Gaza.”
The judgment was based on an urgent application filed by South Africa, a longtime backer of the Palestinian cause, but determining whether genocide occurred might take years.
“This is the first time the world has told Israel that it is out of line,” said Maha Yasin, a 42-year-old displaced Gaza resident.
“What Israel did to us in Gaza for four months has never happened in history.”
Israel’s military campaign began shortly after Hamas launched unprecedented attacks on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,140 people, the majority of whom were civilians, according to an AFP assessment of official Israeli data.
Militants also took approximately 250 hostages, and Israel claims about 132 of them are still in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.
Israel has sworn to smash Hamas, and Gaza’s health ministry claims the Israeli military onslaught has killed at least 26,257 people, with women and children accounting for around 70% of the total.
According to the army, at least 220 troops have been killed since Israel’s ground operations in Gaza began.
‘No healthcare system’
With a humanitarian catastrophe escalating, the UN reports that the majority of the estimated 1.7 million Palestinians displaced by the fighting have rushed into Rafah on Egypt’s southern border.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported “virtually non-existent” surgical capacity at Khan Yunis’ Nasser Hospital, the largest in the besieged city.
According to the organization, medical services at the hospital have “collapsed” and the few staff who remain “must contend with very low supplies that are insufficient to handle mass casualty events”.
The World Health Organization’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said 350 patients and 5,000 displaced people remained at the hospital while combat continued nearby.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Israeli tanks targeted the Al-Amal hospital, one of the few remaining medical facilities in Khan Yunis, and it was “under siege with heavy gunfire”.
“There is no longer a healthcare system in Gaza,” MSF said in a statement.
There were 300 to 500 patients stranded at the Nasser hospital with “war-related injuries such as open wounds, lacerations from explosions, fractures, and burns”.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of operating from tunnels beneath Gaza’s hospitals and utilizing them as command centers.
UN sacks staff
This Monday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, accused the WHO of colluding with Hamas by dismissing Israeli proof of Hamas’ “military use” of Gaza hospitals.
Tedros denied the accusation, claiming that it may “endanger our staff who are risking their lives to serve the vulnerable”.
Relations between Israel and UNRWA deteriorated further after the UN agency said that tanks had attacked one of its shelters in Khan Yunis on Wednesday, killing 13 people.
UNRWA announced on Friday that it has fired six staff accused by Israel of participating in the October 7 incident.
The claims prompted the United States, Canada, Australia, and Italy to withhold financing for the agency.
Israel warned Saturday it would try to prevent UNRWA from working in Gaza after the battle. Hamas encouraged the UN and other institutions “not to give in to Israel’s threats.”
Diplomatic attempts have sought increased assistance delivery to Gaza and a truce, following a week-long cease-fire in November that saw Hamas release dozens of captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A security source told AFP that CIA chief William Burns will meet with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts, as well as Qatar’s prime minister, in Paris in the coming days to urge a cease-fire.
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council will meet to review the ICJ verdict.