Residents reported that Israel carried out violent air and tank strikes on the city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip late on Friday, following reports of nearly 200 deaths within 24 hours during the Israeli campaign against the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement (Hamas). Palestinian paramedics and journalists stated that Israeli warplanes also conducted a series of airstrikes on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The Israeli forces are bombing Khan Younis in preparation for an expected further incursion into the main southern city, which they controlled in parts since early December. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant stated that the forces reached Hamas command centers and weapons depots. The Israeli military also reported having destroyed a tunnel complex in the basement of a house belonging to Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza.
Twelve weeks after the attack launched by Hamas fighters on towns in southern Israel, which Israel claims resulted in 1,200 deaths and 240 hostages, Israeli forces have turned large areas of Gaza into ruins while continuing their military objective to eliminate the Islamist militants. Almost all of the Strip's approximately 2.3 million residents have been displaced from their homes at least once, with many now fleeing for the third or fourth time, often taking refuge in makeshift tents or crowding under tarpaulin and plastic sheets in the open air.
Health authorities in Gaza announced the death of 187 Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes over the past 24 hours, raising the total death toll to 21,507, approximately one percent of the Strip's population, with fears that thousands of bodies remain buried under the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods.
### Palestinian Journalist Killed
Officials in the health sector and journalists reported that a Palestinian journalist working for Al-Quds TV was killed along with several family members in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. With this incident, the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the Israeli assault rises to 106, according to Gaza's government media office.
The Committee to Protect Journalists stated last week that the first ten weeks of the war between Israel and Gaza were the deadliest for journalists, with the highest number of journalist deaths in a single year and location. The majority of the journalists and media workers killed during the conflict have been Palestinians. The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported that it "is particularly concerned about the clear pattern of targeting journalists and their families by the Israeli military."
Earlier this month, an investigation by Reuters concluded that an Israeli tank crew killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdullah and injured six other journalists in Lebanon when they fired two shells in quick succession while the reporters were filming cross-border bombardments. Israel has stated earlier that it has not and will not intentionally target journalists and that it is doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, but the rising death toll has raised concerns even among its strongest allies. The United States has called on Israel to scale back its overall warfare in the coming weeks and shift to targeted operations against Hamas leaders. So far, Israel has shown no signs of doing so.
South Africa requested the International Court of Justice on Friday to issue an urgent order declaring that Israel is violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its ongoing campaign against Hamas in Gaza. South Africa asked the court to issue interim or short-term measures ordering Israel to halt its military campaign in Gaza, stating that these measures are "necessary in this case to protect against any additional serious irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people." No date has been set for a hearing.
In response, the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Hamas of being responsible for the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza by using them as human shields and seizing humanitarian aid intended for them. Hamas denies these accusations.
### Israel Aids Vaccine Delivery to Gaza
On Friday, Israel announced that it facilitated the entry of a quantity of vaccines sufficient to immunize approximately 1.4 million people against diseases including polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, and meningitis. According to a statement from the Israeli government’s coordinator for activities in the territories, a unit within the Ministry of Defense that coordinates with Palestinians, the vaccination transfer process was coordinated with UNICEF to prevent disease spread in the Strip.
Gaza is almost entirely dependent on food, fuel, and medical supplies from outside, with Israel closing all access points except for the southern end. International bodies state that the supplies allowed into the Strip through Israeli inspections are just a fraction of the enormous needs of the area. Last week, Israel yielded to international pressure to open a second crossing that it claimed would double the number of supply trucks daily to 200, but the United Nations reported that only 76 trucks managed to enter on Thursday compared to 500 in peacetime. An Israeli government spokesperson stated on Friday that the government does not impose restrictions on humanitarian aid and that the problem lies with its distribution within Gaza.
