Israeli military forces tightened their grip on the southern part of the Gaza Strip Monday, setting up a new checkpoint outside the key city of Khan Younis. Residents hurried to avoid the advancing army, while a territory-wide communications blackout hampered the humanitarian response.
A focal point of the operations Monday was Gaza’s Salah al-Din Road, designated as an evacuation route for civilians fleeing from the north to the south. Israel Defense Forces announced Monday that a segment of the road north of Khan Younis was a “battlefield,” advising residents to avoid it and instead travel on “bypass” roads.
Aid groups have expressed concerns about the increasing difficulty of navigating the directives issued by Israel, while Palestinians in Gaza say the guidance provided is of little use in a place filled with danger.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported losing contact with its medical teams in Gaza after telecommunications services were cut. The International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the intolerable level of human suffering in Gaza, with a military siege in place and no adequate humanitarian response possible.
Since the collapse of a week-long humanitarian pause, Israel has “entered a new phase in our war against Hamas,” an Israeli military spokesman stated. The Israeli army also announced that it had targeted numerous locations in Gaza by ground, air, and sea, including a weapons storage facility and vehicle containing mortar shells and missiles. The strikes came under heavy criticism as Palestinian authorities reported hundreds of deaths due to Israeli strikes.
Despite growing death tolls in Gaza, the White House stated Monday that it was “too soon” to judge whether Israel was doing enough to limit civilian casualties.
Witnesses reported a growing number of residents attempting to flee due to intense shelling along the main thoroughfare, Salah al-Din Road.
As Israeli forces continued their operations in Gaza, the speakers for the White House and the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concerns about the increasing danger for civilians and the overwhelming humanitarian crisis in the region.
