GAZA: Israeli occupation forces embarked today a military offensive in Hamad City, a residential neighborhood located north of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, employing tanks to encircle the area and launching massive fire belts to flatten the ground for tanks.
Residents in the region reported that the occupation forces used drones equipped with loudspeakers to threaten the population, urging them to evacuate Hamad City to the neighboring Al-Mawasi region and the city of Deir al-Balah.
The message broadcasted by the Israeli drones stated, “To all residents in the Hamad City, you are in a dangerous combat zone; the Israeli army is operating in your vicinity.” Simultaneously, Israeli tanks positioned on hillsides opposite to the neighborhood after establishing earth barriers in the area.
Video footage circulating on social media showed dozens of civilians, predominantly women and children, gathering beneath their homes in preparation for displacement. Some loaded their belongings onto cars and carts as Israeli
tanks advanced towards them, with sounds of airstrikes and gunfire echoing intermittently.
Additional images showcased Israeli soldiers on the rooftops of houses in the city, predominantly consisting of residential buildings housing an estimated 5,000 residents.
Estimates suggest that the town of Al-Qarara north of Khan Yunis will also be the site of a new ground offensive by Israeli occupation forces in the coming hours.
Simultaneously, scores of citizens issued pleas for assistance to evacuate them from Hamad City and the town of Al-Qarara. Ambulances and civil defense teams were barred from reaching the affected areas to assess the extent of the aftermath and the number of casualties left by the Israeli airstrikes and intensive shelling, local sources said.
In tandem with these developments, Israeli fighter jets bombed three houses in the city, resulting in six fatalities and nine injuries. Furthermore, artillery shelling targeted the homes of citizens to the east of the city.
Later today, eight Pales
tinians were killed due to an Israeli airstrike targeting a relief aid truck in Deir al-Balah, which was transporting displaced individuals to Rafah.
Simultaneously, the eastern areas of Rafah were subjected to intense shelling, resulting in 26 fatalities and dozens of injuries in the past 24 hours. Among the casualties, 14 were killed, including six children and infants, in an airstrike on the Abu Anza family home in the Salam neighborhood.
Additionally, nine individuals remain trapped under the rubble, while 12 others were killed in an Israeli airstrike on displaced tents in the Sultan area in the city of Rafah.
In Gaza City, warplanes and artillery targeted several homes in various neighborhoods, focusing on areas such as Al-Zaytoun, Tal Al-Hawa, and Sheikh Ajleen.
Over the past 48 hours, more than 29 casualties were retrieved from the alleys and streets of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
Meantime, approximately 20 fatalities were brought to Kamal Adwan Hospital following Israeli airstrikes on two homes
in Jabalia refugee camp and the Safatawi area north of Gaza City last night.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA