The renewed fighting adds to the ‘massive, unparalleled destruction’ going on as Israel says its forces have hit 400 militant targets and killed Hamas fighters in the last 24 hours.
Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, hitting mosques and homes and close to a hospital, after the collapse of a truce in the nearly two-month-old war between Israel and Hamas militants.
The Gaza health ministry said at least 193 Palestinians had been killed and 650 wounded since the truce ended on Friday morning – adding to the more than 15,000 Palestinian dead since the start of the war.
The head of International Red Cross said the renewed fighting was intense.
“It’s a new layer of destruction coming on top of massive, unparalleled destruction of critical infrastructure, of civilian houses and neighbourhoods,” Robert Mardini said in Dubai.
With conditions inside the Hamas-ruled enclave reaching “breaking point”, in Mardini’s words, the first aid trucks since the end of the truce entered Gaza through the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Saturday, Egyptian security and Red Crescent sources told Reuters.
The warring sides blamed each other for the collapse of the seven-day truce, during which Hamas had released hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The southern part of Gaza was taking a pounding on Saturday. Residents said houses and open areas had been hit, and three mosques destroyed in Khan Younis. Columns of smoke rose into the sky.
In Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza, nine Palestinians, including children, were killed in an air strike, health officials said.
Displaced Gazans have been sheltering in Khan Younis and Rafah because of fighting in the north of the densely populated enclave, but residents said they feared Israeli troops were preparing to move on the south.
“This is the same tactic they used before entering Gaza and the north,” said Yamen, who gave only his first name.
