Israel could keep areas near northern Gaza as closed buffer zone if fighting ends: reports

Last update:December 29, 2024, 7:26 p.m. IST

Israeli forces order residents of Beit Hanoun to evacuate amid ongoing offensive, citing rocket fire from militants.

A drone view shows smoke above Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, seen from near Kibbutz Nir Am in southern Israel . (IMAGE: Reuters)

Israeli forces leading a week-long offensive in northern Gaza on Sunday ordered all residents remaining in Beit Hanoun to leave the town, highlighting Palestinian militants’ rocket fire from the area, residents said.

According to Reuters, much of the area around the northern towns of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of residents and razed, fueling speculation that Israel intends to keep the area as a closed buffer zone after the end of the fighting in Gaza.

Another New York Post article indicates that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which currently controls the Netzarim corridor and a buffer zone of approximately 46 square kilometers surrounding it, have no plans to leave the buffer zone anytime soon. The corridor divides the Gaza Strip in two and is now home to dozens of outposts and several bases from which the Israeli military has launched operations against Hamas, including a hostage rescue mission.

The Israeli army announced a new offensive in the Beit Hanoun region on Saturday.

The order for residents to leave sparked a new wave of displacement, although the number of people affected was not immediately clear, residents said.

Israel says its campaign launched nearly three months ago in northern Gaza targets Hamas militants and prevents them from regrouping. His instructions to civilians to evacuate are intended to keep them out of danger, the military says.

Palestinian and United Nations officials say no place is safe in Gaza and the evacuations are worsening humanitarian conditions for the population.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said it had lost communication with people still trapped in the city and was unable to send teams to the area due to the raid.

Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Friday. The army said it was used by militants, something Hamas denies.

The raid on the hospital, one of three medical facilities on Gaza’s northern edge, knocked out the region’s last major health facility, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement. article on X.

Some patients were evacuated from Kamal Adwan to the Indonesian hospital, which is not in service, and doctors were unable to reach them, the health ministry said. Other patients and staff were taken to other medical facilities.

On Sunday, health officials said an Israeli tank shell hit the upper floor of the Al-Ahly Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, near the X-ray division.

Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 16 people on Sunday. One of the strikes killed seven people and injured others at Al-WAFA hospital in Gaza City, Palestinian Civil Emergency Services said in a statement.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted members of Hamas’ “air defense unit” who were operating from the compound, saying the location was no longer used as a hospital. She said militants had used the compound to plan and execute attacks against Israeli troops. immediately.

Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the 2.3 million residents have been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

The war was sparked by the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli counts.

Location :

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories