Israeli forces move closer to Gaza City's downtown as the humanitarian crisis worsens.

Israeli forces move closer to Gaza City’s downtown as the humanitarian crisis worsens.

With heavy artillery and mounting pressure on locations that have turned into shelters for thousands of Palestinians, Israeli forces were moving closer to the heart of Gaza City.

Following a 10-hour firefight with Hamas, the Israeli military announced on Thursday that they had taken control of a section of northern Gaza City. Since then, the area has become a war zone, as evidenced by images released by the Israeli Defense Forces, which show destroyed buildings, tanks, and armored bulldozers. According to the Israeli military, subterranean shafts were opened and weapons were seized.

Israeli soldiers were advancing toward the center of Gaza City with heavy shelling and increasing pressure on areas that have become shelters for thousands of Palestinians.

The Israeli military declared on Thursday that they had taken control of a portion of northern Gaza City after a 10-hour fighting with Hamas. Images released by the Israeli Defense Forces since then show wrecked buildings, tanks, and armored bulldozers, indicating that the area has turned into a combat zone. The Israeli military claims that weapons were taken and underground holes were opened.

“The circumstance is serious, and it is deteriorating consistently,” Macron said in his introductory statements on Thursday. Right now, we have to focus on ensuring the safety of the general public. In order to do that, we must seek a ceasefire and implement a humanitarian ceasefire very quickly,” he stated.

The world is denouncing Israel’s behavior as its military operation in Gaza City heats up and its forces begin to infiltrate residential areas. Following Israel’s recent bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp, the Gaza Health Ministry, under the leadership of Hamas, revealed scores of injuries.

Once the primary source of care for the community, hospitals are now hubs of unrest. Thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge at al-Shifa Hospital, a large building with cramped hallways that is severely lacking in fuel, medication, antiseptics, and other supplies, according to medical professionals and the Gaza Health Ministry. Inside al-Shifa, video footage revealed patients receiving treatment on hospital floors, some with open wounds.

According to the UN, a shortage of fuel for generators caused Al-Quds Hospital, another hospital in Gaza City, to suspend its primary operations on Wednesday. Al-Awda Hospital, the only maternity facility in northern Gaza, has issued an alert regarding its impending closure.

Based in Ramallah, in the West Bank, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila has stated that doctors working in Gaza are now forced to select whose treatment to provide due to a lack of medical resources. According to Al-Kaila, “They will have to give priority to who can survive and who cannot.” She stated that around 198 medical personnel have died in Gaza since the fighting started.

Medical professionals worry about direct attacks against hospitals. According to information that Israel claims to have given to Western partners, hospitals in Gaza are located over a system of tunnels that Hamas fighters use to store ammunition and fuel. According to the Israeli military, Hamas leaders oversee missile launchers from a significant command and control center at Al-Shifa Hospital.

Israel’s accusations have been rejected by Hamas, which claims that Gaza’s hospitals are only being utilized for emergency medical care. According to Hamas sources, Israel is evicting civilians from medical facilities and displacing Gazans from their homes through a massive displacement campaign.

According to Al-Kaila, there is no proof that Hamas was hiding military equipment in Gaza’s hospitals.

On Wednesday, Michelle Bachelet, the chief of the UN human rights department, stated that sides to a conflict are required by international law to protect civilian populations.

“Attacks on medical facilities, medical personnel, and the wounded and sick are prohibited,” declared Turk, urging an immediate visit to the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization delivered medical supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital for the second time since the crisis began. According to a UN report, almost every hospital bed is taken by two patients. Doctors are forced to treat injured patients in hallways, on the floor, and sometimes outside of emergency rooms due to floods.

The UN said on Wednesday that the quantity of losses is expanding constantly, while patients persevere through outrageous and superfluous experiences because of the exhaustion of meds and sedatives.

The UN reports that no bakeries are operating in northern Gaza and that no food or bottled water has been provided in a week due to the lack of fuel, water, and bread.

According to people with knowledge of the situation, Israel is under pressure from the UN to agree to negotiations so that gasoline can enter the Gaza Strip enclave. They claimed that the international organization would be in charge of supplying fuel around the enclave’s boundaries to make sure it does not reach Hamas as a result of the UN-mediated talks.

Finished Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser and general of Israel, has stated that Israel must utilize the battle with Hamas to enhance its military capabilities, move its fighters, and carry out concerted counterattacks. In Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli publication, he remarked, “The terrorist groups are also running low on explosives.”

According to Eiland, “But achieving the minimal and necessary objectives, which is to break Hamas, is far from reality.” “If we don’t exercise restraint, and if we continue aggressive actions, which include sensitive places like Shifa Hospital, we’ll risk crumbling the Hamas stronghold in northern Gaza Strip.”

More than 10,800 people have died in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to health officials. There is no differentiation between militants and civilians in the data. After Hamas launched attacks on October 7, which resulted in over 1,400 deaths and over 200 captured, Israel began its military campaign.

Israel announced on Thursday that people would be permitted to travel along the enclave’s north-south corridor for a period of six hours, but they were still urged to flee south.

The UN believes that the number of persons displaced on Wednesday was close to 50,000, the highest since the openings started, increasing the total to over 72,000 since November 5. There are still thousands in Gaza’s north.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, IDF Arabic-language spokeswoman Avichay Adraee stated, “The northern Gaza Strip area is considered a terrible war zone, and the time for its evacuation is ending.”

At a meeting in Paris, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh declared that Israel was fighting against all Palestinians, not just Hamas. “How many Palestinians must be killed to stop the war?” Shitayyeh inquired.

On Saturday, the Arab League will convene to discuss possible solutions to the current situation. Two Arab diplomats have revealed that the draft statement of the Arab League demands pressure for a two-state solution, the rejection of any forced Palestinian relocation, and an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza.

As Israeli bombings intensified in an attempt to lessen any terrorist threats from the region, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that at least eight people had died and over a dozen had been injured in Jenin, in the West Bank. The IDF stated that it is running a campaign in the area to combat terrorism.