Israel faced pressure from some of its closest allies on Wednesday over the plight of civilians in Gaza, where thousands of people were fleeing the northern enclave on foot due to food and water shortages and fear of the approach of Israeli forces. Israeli forces.
More than 70% of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million residents have already fled their homes, but the number heading south has recently increased as Israeli troops fight Hamas fighters inside Gaza City. and the humanitarian situation is getting worse and worse.
The Group of Seven, the richest countries, announced a unified stance on the war after intense meetings in Tokyo. The G7 condemned Hamas and supported Israel’s right to defend itself. But the G7 also called on Wednesday for unhindered supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel, and for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has left open the possibility of short pauses in delivering humanitarian aid, but has ruled out a ceasefire unless all hostages are freed.
There is no end in sight to the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7.
Israel has said the war will be long and difficult and that it will maintain some form of control over the enclave indefinitely, although how it will achieve that remains uncertain. Support for the war remains strong inside Israel, where attention has focused on the plight of more than 240 hostages taken by Hamas and other insurgent groups.
Some 15,000 people fled northern Gaza on Tuesday — triple the number on Monday — according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They use the main highway that links the north and south of the enclave during the four-hour daily period announced by Israel.
Those leaving include children, the elderly and the disabled, and most take very few belongings with them, the agency said. Some say they had to pass through Israeli checkpoints, where they saw people detained, while others raised their hands and raised white flags as they passed Israeli tanks.
Hundreds of trucks carrying aid have been able to enter Gaza from Egypt since October 21. But aid workers said it is not enough.
“There is an ocean of needs in Gaza right now, and what has been coming in is a drop in the ocean. We need fuel, we need water, we need food, we need medical supplies,” said Dominic Allen of the UN Population Fund. from the West Bank.
Residents reported loud explosions throughout the early hours of Wednesday in Gaza City and the Shati refugee camp, which houses Palestinian families who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war.
“The shelling is intense and close,” said Mohamed Abed, who lives in Gaza City.
Israel’s top military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said late Tuesday that ground forces had reached “the depths of Gaza City.” The military said Wednesday that it killed one of Hamas’ top developers of rockets and other weapons, but did not specify where he died.
Hamas has denied that Israeli troops have made significant advances or entered Gaza City. It was not possible to independently verify the statements of both parties.
Israel is focusing its operations on Gaza City, where 650,000 people lived before the war and where the Israeli military says Hamas has its command center and a vast labyrinth of tunnels. In recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have followed Israeli orders to leave the north for the south, even as it frequently bombs what it calls insurgent targets in that area, often killing civilians.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians remain in the north and many have taken refuge in UN hospitals or schools. There has been no drinking water in that area for weeks, and the UN agency reported that the last bakeries closed on Tuesday due to lack of fuel, water and flour. Hospitals are running out of supplies and performing surgeries — including amputations — without anesthesia, he added.
Majed Haroun, who lives in Gaza City, said women and children go door-to-door asking for food while those in shelters depend on local donations.
Ameer Ghalban, who was pushing an elderly relative’s wheelchair along Gaza’s main highway, said they had survived on one piece of bread a day for the past three. “Most people have abandoned their land because the siege is absolute in Gaza. We have no water, no electricity, no flour,” he said.
The situation is not much better in the south, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crowded into makeshift shelters. In one shelter, 600 people share a toilet, according to the UN agency.
An Israeli airstrike hit a family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens more, according to Iyad Abu Zaher, director of the nearby Al Aqsa Hospital. Martyrs, where the dead and wounded were transported. He said the number could rise as doctors and first responders search through the rubble.
A month of relentless Israeli bombing of Gaza has left more than 10,500 Palestinians dead — two-thirds of them women and children — according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory. Another 2,300 people are believed to be buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed by bombs that leveled entire blocks.
Hamas insurgents killed 1,400 people during the Oct. 7 assault that sparked the war and took 242 people hostage. Israel said 32 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive and Palestinian fighters fire projectiles into Israeli territory daily.
