Some of the most intense fighting for weeks is raging in both the north and south. Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have closed a main crossing point for aid. Humanitarian groups say this has worsened an already dire situation.
Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing again. Around half of Gaza’s population took sanctuary there after Israel ordered evacuations from northern Gaza in October.
Gaza’s health authority appealed for international pressure to reopen access via the southern border to allow in aid, medical supplies and fuel to power generators and ambulances.
“The wounded and sick suffer a slow death because there is no treatment and supplies and they cannot travel,” it said.
A foreign U.N. security staff member was killed on Monday when a U.N.-marked vehicle travelling to a hospital in Rafah was struck - the first international U.N. fatality in the Gaza war, a U.N. spokesperson said, bringing the total death toll of U.N. personnel to around 190.
Hezbollah head says displaced Israeli northerners will not return home if Gaza war persists
The head of powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Monday that residents of northern Israel would not be able to return home for the start of the next school year if their government pressed on with its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in parallel with the Gaza war. The armed group has said it is launching rockets at Israel both to support its ally, Palestinian armed group Hamas, and to deter Israel from launching an attack on Lebanon.
In a televised address on Monday, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah repeated that his group would keep fighting as long as Israel continued its assault of Gaza.
“The link between the supportive Lebanese front and Gaza is definitive, final and conclusive,” he said. “No one will be able to de-link them.”
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border and prompted fears of a bigger war between the heavily-armed adversaries.
Israel has said it wants to secure the north for residents to return home, either through a mediated diplomatic agreement or a military attack against Lebanon.
