Explosions, air strikes and gunfire rattled northern Gaza on Saturday, the third day of an Israeli military operation that has uprooted tens of thousands of Palestinians and compounded what the UN called “unbearable” living conditions in the territory.
An AFP correspondent reported explosions from the Shujaiya area near Gaza City, and a resident saying bodies were seen on the streets.
The armed wings of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were engaged in ongoing fighting with Israeli forces there.
Israel’s military, meanwhile, said its operations were continuing in Shujaiya where fighting “above and below the ground” left a “large number” of militants dead.
It said “dozens of terrorists” were killed and weapons, drones and observation posts were found, as well as a long-range rocket launcher and tunnel shafts.
A resurgence of fighting in the area comes months after Israel declared the command structure of Hamas dismantled in northern Gaza.
The United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA estimated that “about 60,000 to 80,000 people were displaced” from the area this week.
Separately, a UN spokeswoman, Louise Wateridge, said by video-link she had just returned to central Gaza after four weeks outside the territory. “It’s really unbearable,” she said, describing a “significantly deteriorated” situation.
“There’s no water there, there’s no sanitation, there’s no food,” and people are returning to live in “empty shells” of buildings. In the absence of bathrooms they are “relieving themselves anywhere they can”.
The UN says most
of Gaza’s population
is displaced, but the fallout from the war has also uprooted people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, where Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement
and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire.
Such exchanges have escalated this month, alongside bellicose rhetoric.
Israel’s military said plans for a Lebanon offensive had been “approved and validated”, prompting Hezbollah to respond that none of Israel would be spared in a full-blown conflict.
In a post on social media Saturday, Iran’s mission to the UN in New York said it “deems as psychological warfare” Israeli threats to “attack” Lebanon.
But it added such a move would lead to an “obliterating” war that could involve “all resistance fronts”, a reference to Iran-backed groups in the region.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ