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©Reuters. People walk near tent camps where displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli attacks amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, seek shelter in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 9, 2023. R
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By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Bassam Masoud
GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli tanks tried to push further west in their battle against Hamas in and around the southern Gaza Strip’s main city of Khan Younis on Monday, as U.N. officials renewed calls for a ceasefire fires to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
The fighting in Khan Younis comes as Israel refocuses its more than two-month war effort on the south, after storming northern Gaza and expelling the majority of the Palestinian enclave’s 2.3 million residents from their homes. houses.
Amid reports from the World Health Organization of a “catastrophic” health situation in Gaza, Palestinian activists on Monday called for a global strike as part of a coordinated effort to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.
“It’s time – GLOBAL TOTAL STRIKE,” read one call. But it was unclear whether the effort would catch on globally or have an impact on Israel’s war plans.
The 193-member United Nations General Assembly was likely to vote on Tuesday on a draft resolution demanding a ceasefire, diplomats said on Sunday.
On Friday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council proposal demanding an immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds.
The US vote was criticized on Sunday by Arab foreign ministers at an international conference in Qatar’s capital Doha, which played a key role in the ceasefire negotiations late last month.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he would “not give up” the call for a ceasefire.
“I urged the Security Council to apply pressure to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and I reiterated my call to declare a humanitarian ceasefire,” Guterres said. “Unfortunately, the Security Council has not done this, but that does not make it any less necessary.”
The fighting began on October 7 when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. In response, Israel has pledged to destroy the militant Islamist group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
According to health authorities in Gaza, around 18,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, with 49,500 injured. About 100 Israeli hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire that ended on December 1.
On Sunday, residents of Khan Younis said tanks had reached the city’s main north-south road. Fighter planes attacked an area to the west.
Guterres said the city, with a population of about 626,000, could be on the brink of collapse, with the possibility of epidemic diseases sweeping the city.
Israel and Hamas, meanwhile, were engaged in a war of words on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that dozens of Hamas fighters had surrendered. Hamas refuted the claim, saying it had destroyed 180 Israeli military vehicles. However, it provided no evidence.
Meanwhile, hospitals in Gaza were operating at maximum capacity with dead and injured Palestinians, according to the main Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
While the world’s attention has been focused on the military action in the Gaza Strip, concerns about the spread of the war have been further fueled by the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is backed by Iran.
The Syrian army also said it had shot down Israeli missiles fired from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights at the capital Damascus on Sunday evening.
Other missiles that were not intercepted caused some damage, the military said in a statement. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, accused Israel of “a systematic attempt to empty Gaza of its population” and forced them to leave the territory.
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy called the accusation “outrageous and false” and said his country was defending itself “against the monsters who committed the October 7 massacre” and bringing them to justice.