Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be held.
Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and came a day after the military ordered residents to leave as it said it planned to fight Hamas militants.
The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west toward the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis.
In Khan Younis, earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife and their two children, in a tent, medics said.
In its daily update, Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 130 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Israel’s military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing “to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Families of the hostages have expressed concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and the army chief of how they will protect them.
“The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages — both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn’t know what was at stake,” the Hostage Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement.
Warnings of ‘mass deaths’ from mounting hunger
The military escalation comes as Gaza health officials warned of potential “mass deaths” in the coming days due to mounting hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Health officials said hospitals were running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations.
Health Ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion because of hunger.
In southern Gaza, the Health Ministry said an Israeli undercover unit had detained Marwan Al-Hams, head of Gaza’s field hospitals, on Monday in a raid that killed a local journalist and wounded another outside a field medical facility run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
An ICRC spokesperson said the Red Cross had admitted and treated patients injured in the incident but would not comment further on their status in order to protect their privacy. It said it was “very concerned about the safety and security” around the field hospital.
WARNING: Video contains graphic images | At least 85 people were killed near aid sites in Gaza over the weekend, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The danger at the large distribution sites have some in the region choosing smaller locations instead.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel has raided and attacked hospitals across Gaza during the war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, an accusation the group denies. Sending undercover forces to carry out arrests has been rare.
Israel’s military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza to remove what it said was “an immediate threat.”
It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it “certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks.”
The new raid and escalating number of fatalities appeared to be complicating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with U.S. backing.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday that the militant group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the enclave, and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks underway in Qatar.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough.
Canada among 25Â countries calling for end of war
Twenty-five countries, including Canada, Britain and several in Europe, issued a joint statement Monday saying the war in Gaza “must end now” and Israel must comply with international law.
The foreign ministers of the countries said “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.” They condemned “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”
“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the statement said.Â
“The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” it added.
UN calls on Israel to lift blockade on aid
UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said in a post on X on Monday, it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff as food prices have increased 40-fold.
“Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale,” it said.
On Sunday, the health ministry said at least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for UN aid trucks to enter Gaza, after saying at least 36 aid seekers were killed a day earlier.
Israel’s military said on Sunday that it “views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community.”
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
