The Israeli army bombs the house of one of the Hamas leaders in Gaza

The Israeli army has announced that warplanes have attacked the home of Ismail Haniye, the head of the political wing of Hamas, in Gaza.. It is the second attack carried out on Haniyeh's home and in neither case has the Army revealed whether they killed any important party member or close associates.. Haniyeh has been outside the Gaza Strip since 2019, two years after assuming leadership of the organization. He currently lives between Türkiye and Qatar.

On the other hand, last morning he ordered the evacuation of four neighborhoods in the south of the Gaza Strip, east of the city of Khan Yunis, after having forced the displacement of more than a million people in the northern half in recent weeks. Of the territory. “For their safety, they must immediately evacuate their places of residence and go to known shelters,” says the leaflet dropped into the streets from the air, without specifying which shelters they refer to..

The note mentions the localities of Al Qarara, Khuzaa, Bani Suheila and Abasan. “Any person who approaches the terrorists or their facilities puts their life at risk and all houses used by terrorists will be a (military) target,” the statement added..

Khan Yunis is located in the southern half of the Strip and, in recent weeks, tens of thousands of displaced people from the north have sought shelter in public buildings or parks in the area.. Although the military land operation is taking place in the north of the territory, the city and its surroundings have been the target of almost daily bombings since last October 7..

An expansion of the offensive threatens to worsen the serious humanitarian crisis that Gaza has suffered since the start of the war, with a lack of fuel, drinking water, food and medical supplies.. Furthermore, the population of the southern part of the Strip has grown exponentially after absorbing a million displaced people in just a few weeks..

For the moment, the Israeli army has not announced its intention to expand military operations in the towns it ordered evacuated.. However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that the ground operation will eventually “include both the north and the south.”

Soldiers follow the hospital

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers remain inside the largest hospital in Gaza, Al Shifa, after breaking into the health complex on Wednesday morning. The Turkish news agency Anadolu said that the army withdrew some of its vehicles from the hospital, but that the operation continues inside the center..

Hospital sources told this agency that for the moment the shooting has stopped and “a cautious calm” continues, although patients, medical personnel and refugee civilians cannot leave because the army shoots at anyone who tries to do so.. According to Munir al-Boursh, a senior Gaza health ministry official, troops raided the basement of the building and interrogated patients, medical staff and refugees.

Furthermore, last night 27 cancer patients from Gaza arrived in Turkey from Egypt, who crossed the Rafah crossing a few weeks ago.. The patients were accompanied by 13 people, although it has not been determined if they were medical personnel or family members.. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca noted that the transfer could be carried out thanks to “coordination between Turkey, Egypt and Israel.”. He added that Turkey is still waiting for Egyptian permission to deploy a field hospital at the Rafah crossing.

Borrell's Journey

On the other hand, the high representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, begins his tour of the Middle East this Thursday “to discuss all aspects of the situation in Gaza” and the flow of assistance. of the EU. He is expected to visit Israel first and then the Palestinian territories, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan.. It will be in the area until next Monday.

The visit coincides with the first resolution approved by the UN Security Council that has called for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip” to allow aid delivery and medical evacuations, after four failed voting attempts. .

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Israel to abide by the resolution and noted that its approval should be a “wake-up call” for Tel Aviv. “That the United States has finally stopped paralyzing the Security Council on Israel and Palestine so that this resolution on the plight of children in Gaza can move forward should be a wake-up call to Israeli authorities,” said HRW director, Louis Charbonneau.