The Israeli military has surrounded Gaza City, a key area under Hamas control, intensifying its operations in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) report that they are confronting Hamas militants who are executing ambush tactics from underground tunnels.
The United Nations highlighted that four of its educational institutions utilized as safe havens were impacted, emphasizing the escalating water crisis.
The health department under Hamas’ administration reports a death toll of over 9,000 Palestinians.
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) confirmed that in less than a day, four of its educational facilities being used as refuges were struck.
Tragically, approximately 20 individuals died in an educational institution in the Jabalia refugee region, as conveyed by UNRWA, with another casualty being a young child at another school which had been transformed into a sanctuary in the Beach refugee area.
The BBC has authenticated footage from the affected educational centers.
The first distressing footage, captured in an elementary institution in the northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee district, provides a glimpse first outside its primary entrance and subsequently inside its main plaza. Around 20 individuals, either deceased or harmed, are evident, spanning all ages.
Another clip, taken in the central square of a grade school in the Beach refugee zone near the sea, displays smoke billowing from the backside of the main academic building. Many, inclusive of children, hurry to a safer location in the square, while a few camp inhabitants observe the scene from their overhead windows. The video’s backdrop resonates with multiple detonations, with the final, most powerful one triggering a massive exodus from the square.
Gaza’s Hamas administration attributes these events to Israeli aerial assaults. The IDF has remained silent on the issue.
UN-affiliated professionals have urged an immediate truce in Gaza due to the increasing peril to its Palestinian inhabitants, even going so far as to label it a potential “genocide scenario.”
They stressed the dire nature of the situation, pointing out that restrictions on fuel and disturbances in water distribution have rendered drinkable water a rarity.
“Water is indispensable for survival, and presently, two million Gaza inhabitants are grappling to secure it,” was their statement.
In response, Israel’s representative to the UN in Geneva termed such remarks as “distressing and alarming,” pinning the blame on Hamas for civilian casualties.
Earlier that day, the IDF declared the elimination of an estimated 130 Hamas militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced that the forces were in the thick of the conflict, stating, “Our operations have been commendable, and we’ve made progress beyond the peripheries of Gaza City. We are on the move,” as per his release.
Several foreign citizens managed to exit Gaza when the Rafah junction to Egypt reopened. US President Biden noted that over 70 of those evacuees were Americans.
However, the international medical group, Doctors Without Borders, highlighted that in excess of 20,000 injured individuals were still confined within the region.
In another development, the Lebanese faction Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 19 simultaneous attacks on Israeli targets, marking its most aggressive move against Israel to date.
Israel’s defense forces have retaliated by targeting multiple Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.
This news emerges just prior to an awaited address by Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, marking his initial public appearance since the onset of the conflict the previous month.
