Heavy Israeli bombing of Gaza overnight killed at least 125 people, the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said Wednesday, amid negotiations in Cairo aimed at striking a truce.
According to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, Israeli military have issued additional evacuation orders for a stretch of Khan Yunis, which was home to an estimated 500,000 residents and displaced refugees as the conflict raged.
The orders came as the World Food Programme warned Gazans were facing “catastrophic food insecurity”, and as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took Israel to task over its rejection of a two-state solution — seen by ally the United States as the only path to a durable peace.
The worst combat was occurring near Khan Yunis, the natal home of Yahya Sinwar, the Gaza head of Hamas, who is believed to have planned the October 7 strikes that ignited the conflict.
According to the health ministry, 125 individuals were murdered overnight and their remains have been brought to Gaza hospitals. The Hamas leadership stated that more than 200 people died, although it gave no time range.
It accused the Israeli army of forcibly displacing “tens of thousands” of people from Khan Yunis to Rafah, the city in south Gaza that abuts the Egyptian frontier.
Israeli soldiers targeted the Palestinian Red Crescent’s offices in the southern city, resulting in the deaths of three displaced persons and the injuries of another three.
