The Israeli military said the Hamas movement had lost control in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as it was announced that around 50,000 civilians had been displaced from the north to the south of the Strip.
These developments come alongside an increase in the intensity of land fighting in recent days as the war entered its second month following Hamas’ attack in Israel on October 7, which killed 1,400 people. and the kidnapping of over 240 people. people.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced on Wednesday that Hamas had lost control of northern Gaza, with thousands of residents moving south, according to Reuters.
The spokesperson said: “We saw 50,000 Gazans heading from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south,” adding: “They are leaving because they realize that Hamas has lost control in the north and that the south is safer and has a safe area.” where medicines, water and food are available.”
He continued: “Hamas has lost control and continues to lose control of the north.”
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (Makan) reported that the “Coordinator of Actions in the Territories” announced that approximately 50,000 residents of the northern Gaza Strip had been displaced to the south on Wednesday.
Witnesses told Reuters that thousands of Palestinians fleeing the north made their way in a long procession past buildings destroyed by the bombing in search of safe haven.
Huge numbers of displaced people are crowded into schools, hospitals and other sites in the southern Strip, while thousands more remain within the besieged northern area, including Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city.
Gaza’s Interior Ministry said at least 19 people were killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a house near a hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
There was no immediate Israeli comment or details on the location of the attack, which, if confirmed, would be the third in Gaza’s largest refugee camp within a week.
“No ceasefire”
The army spokesperson confirmed in his new statements that there will be no ceasefire, but Israel will allow humanitarian truces at specific times to allow civilians to move south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again rejected any ceasefire without the release of hostages held by Hamas on Wednesday, according to Agence France-Presse, in light of information about Qatar’s mediation of a humanitarian truce.
Netanyahu, during his meeting with representatives of settlers in the West Bank, according to a statement from his office, said: “I want to deny any kind of rumors that come to us from all sides, to repeat one thing clearly: there will be no ceasefire the fire without the release of our hostages and all that.” “It’s useless.”
The US State Department announced Wednesday that Under Secretary Ezra Zia and Special Envoy for the Middle East for Humanitarian Affairs David Satterfield will meet with Egyptian and United Nations officials in Cairo to discuss how to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
The White House said more than 80 humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza in the past 24 hours and that between 500 and 600 Americans have not yet left the Palestinian Strip.
“We know we’ve taken out about 400 so far, and that leaves about 500 or 600 remaining if you count the family members who are there,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Netanyahu said in an interview with US channel ABC News on Monday evening that Israel would seek to take responsibility for security in Gaza for an “indefinite period” after the war, but officials said Israel was not interested in ruling the Strip .
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant recently said that Gaza will not be governed by either Israel or Hamas after the war.