The devastating Israeli war on the Gaza Strip continues for the 115th day in a row, leaving dozens of martyrs and wounded, while the Israeli siege of the Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis continues for the seventh day, amid warnings of running out of medicines and the spread of famine among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
The Israeli occupation army continues its devastating war on various areas in the Gaza Strip for the 115th day, leaving more martyrs and wounded, while the occupation army continues its siege of a number of hospitals in the Strip amid fears of famine spreading in areas suffering from a lack of aid.
The Israeli siege continues for the seventh day in a row of the Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Amal Hospital, affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, amid warnings that a number of services will stop due to the depletion of medicines and oxygen stocks.
Martyrs and siege
On the ground, dozens of civilians were martyred and injured, since Monday dawn, as a result of Israeli raids that targeted a number of residential homes in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, amid a siege by military vehicles that coincided with intense bombardment by Israeli artillery and boats.
The Palestinian News Agency said that warplanes bombed at least five homes in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, “leading to the death and injury of dozens of citizens, while ambulances face difficulty in moving to reach the wounded and martyrs amid artillery shelling and occupation marches.”
According to local sources, the occupation forces were stationed meters away from the Shifa complex in Gaza and fired fire and artillery shells in the vicinity of the complex and at the communications junction south of the Rimal neighborhood, while the Israeli forces surrounded the area of universities and schools housing displaced people and fired heavy fire in the area.
The Israeli artillery also bombed a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) housing displaced people in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, “which led to the death of at least 10 citizens. They also raided the school and beat the citizens,” according to Wafa Agency.
Medical sources reported that 33 Palestinians were killed as a result of the Israeli bombing of citizens’ homes in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip since Sunday evening.
Israeli aircraft bombed a number of civilians as well as a cemetery in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in the central Gaza Strip, “leading to the martyrdom of citizens. They also bombed a number of citizens’ homes in the Al-Sabra and Al-Zaytoun neighborhoods in the city,” according to local sources.
Medical sources reported that Israeli aircraft bombed two homes in Jabalia camp, and artillery shells were fired at civilians in Beit Lahia, wounding dozens who were taken to Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals, in the north.
The Israeli army also continues to besiege Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals for the seventh day in a row in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, amid intensifying air strikes and artillery shelling of the eastern and western areas of the city.
A TRT news correspondent said that, on Monday, Israeli drones called on citizens to evacuate the vicinity of the Nasser Medical Complex and threatened to destroy it completely, coinciding with the continued bombing of the vicinity of the Red Crescent Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis.
Dire conditions for displaced people
Waves of displacement and forced displacement of Palestinians from the city of Khan Yunis to the city of Rafah continue amid the harsh cold conditions and continuous Israeli bombing.
The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that the health situation in Rafah is catastrophic and is getting worse daily in light of the accumulation of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
The Red Crescent said in a statement: “We have a large deficit in providing relief aid to displaced families in the city of Rafah.”
For its part, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor confirmed that it documented that the Israeli army continued to kill, forcibly displace, and starve civilians at the same pace, 48 hours after the International Court of Justice’s decision was issued, which obligated Israel to take measures to prevent the commission of the crime of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Observatory indicated that it documented the killing of 373 Palestinians by the Israeli army, including 345 civilians, in addition to more than 643 injuries, since the court’s decision was issued.
He added that Israel continues to ignore the court's decision and violate its international obligations, including the rules and principles of international law, by insisting on continuing to commit grave violations that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide against the Palestinians.
Warnings against suspending support for UNRWA
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned that some countries' suspension of their funding to the UN agency "will lead to the cessation of all our humanitarian activities to support the Palestinians within a few weeks."
Lazzarini expressed in a statement published on the
He stressed that "many people are suffering from hunger as Gaza approaches a looming famine, and that the agency runs shelters for more than a million people and provides food and primary health care even at the height of hostilities."
He urged countries that suspended their funding to "reconsider their decisions before UNRWA is forced to suspend its humanitarian response."
Since Friday, 10 countries have “temporarily” suspended funding for the UN agency, following Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
For his part, Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on donors on Sunday not to suspend financial support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Ghebreyesus said in a post on his account on the X platform: “We appeal to donors not to suspend their funding to UNRWA at this critical moment.”
He stressed that "cutting funding will only harm the people of the Gaza Strip, who are suffering greatly and in dire need of support."
Famine outbreak
In parallel, fears of famine persisting in the Gaza and North governorates, which have been suffering from a lack of aid for weeks, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians suffer from the depletion of basic foods, after 4 months of war and severe siege.
The malnutrition faced by residents of the northern Gaza Strip has increased their vulnerability to diseases, especially infectious diseases.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, about 600,000 citizens in northern Gaza are at risk of death as a result of famine, the spread of diseases, and Israeli bombing, while the United Nations warned, in a previous statement, that 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip are at risk of famine.
In mid-November, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization announced that all residents of the Gaza Strip suffer from “food insecurity” due to the Israeli blockade imposed on them since October 7.
Humanitarian aid entered the areas of northern Gaza, for the first time, during the humanitarian truce that began last November 24 and lasted for a week.
With the return of the war, Israel prevented the entry of aid until the beginning of this January, when the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) began entering a limited number of trucks, estimated at about 5-7 per day.
According to UNRWA, the humanitarian aid entering the Strip in general “does not meet 7% of the population’s needs for all food and relief supplies.”
Yemen The Houthi group announces the targeting of a US Navy ship in the Gulf of Aden
The Yemeni Houthi group announced that it had targeted a US Navy ship in the Gulf of Aden, with an “appropriate” naval missile, and said that the targeting operation “comes within the military measures taken by the Yemeni armed forces in defense of Yemen and in support of the oppressed Palestinian people.”
The Yemeni Houthi group announced on Monday that it had targeted a US Navy ship in the Gulf of Aden with a “suitable” naval missile.
The military spokesman for the group’s forces, Yahya Saree, said in a statement: “Yesterday evening, Sunday, the naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces launched a suitable sea missile targeting a US Navy ship, the Lewis B Puller, while it was sailing in the Gulf of Aden.”
He added that among the tasks of this ship is “to provide logistical support to the American forces participating in waging the aggression against Yemen.”
He pointed out that "the targeting operation comes within the military measures taken by the Yemeni armed forces in defense of dear Yemen, and in confirmation of the decision to support the oppressed Palestinian people."
In the same context, the statement stressed that the group’s forces would continue to “implement the decision to prevent Israeli navigation or navigation to the occupied ports of Palestine in the Red and Arab Seas, until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted.”
Tensions continue in the Red Sea despite the fact that, since January 12, a US-led coalition has intermittently launched raids that it says target “Houthi sites” in various regions of Yemen, in response to the Yemeni group’s attacks in the Red Sea.
Tensions have entered a phase of remarkable escalation since, on January 9, the Houthis directly targeted an American ship, after they were targeting, within the framework of solidarity with the Gaza Strip, cargo ships owned or operated by Israeli companies, or transporting goods to and from Israel.
Tags:
asiawest