Israeli forces intensify operations in Gaza across the north and south

Israeli forces have driven deeper into the ruins of Gaza's northern edge to recapture an area where they claimed to have defeated Hamas months ago, while at the opposite end of the enclave, tanks and troops crossed a highway toward Rafah.

With some of the most intense fighting in recent weeks taking place on the northern and southern edges of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled again, and aid groups warn that the humanitarian crisis could worsen dramatically.

Israel described its latest return to the north, where it withdrew most of its troops five months ago, as part of a “clearing” stage of the war to prevent fighters from returning, and said such operations were always part of its plan. . Palestinians say the need to continue fighting amid the ruins of previous battles is proof that Israel's military objectives are unattainable.

In sprawling Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight camps, built 75 years ago to house Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel, tanks advanced toward the center of the district. Residents said tank shells were landing in the center of the field and that airstrikes had destroyed groups of houses.

Thick clouds of black smoke from the explosions could be seen rising over northern Gaza from the Israeli border on Sunday.

Israeli troops are trying to eliminate Hamas, which has said it is committed to the destruction of Israel. The group invaded Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.

The Palestinian death toll in the war has now surpassed 35,000, according to Gaza health authorities, who fear many more bodies are lost under the rubble. The fighting has devastated the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis, with Gaza's Health Ministry warning in a statement on Monday that the medical system is on the brink of collapse due to a shortage of fuel for power generators and ambulances.

Palestinian health authorities said on Monday (13) that they have so far recovered 20 bodies of Palestinians killed in airstrikes in Jabalia overnight, while dozens were injured.

At the opposite end of Gaza, in Rafah, against the border fence with Egypt, Israel intensified aerial and ground bombardment in the eastern areas of the city, killing people in an airstrike on a house in the Brazil neighborhood.

Israel ordered residents to leave the city's east last week and extended that order to central areas in recent days, sending hundreds of thousands of people, most already displaced, fleeing to new shelters.

Residents said Israeli air and ground shelling was intensifying and that tanks had closed off the main north-south Salahuddin road, which divides the eastern part of the city from the central area.