‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 59: Palestinian civilians have nowhere to run as Israel expands ground operations south 

Casualties

15,207+ killed*, including 6,150 children, and 40,752 wounded in the Gaza Strip.

256 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem 

*This figure was confirmed by the Gaza Ministry of Health on December 2. However, due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip (particularly in northern Gaza), the Gaza Ministry of Health has been unable to update its tolls regularly and accurately since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000.

Key Developments 

• Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan accuses Israel of moving civilians to south Gaza “to trap and massacre” them there.
• Israeli forces kill two unidentified Palestinians in Qalqilya, occupied West Bank, Monday morning, says Palestinian Ministry of Health; Israeli military siezes their bodies. 
• Number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in West Bank in 2023 reaches 66, says Defense for Children International-Palestine.
• Only one hospital in Gaza remains with capacity to perform complex surgery and treat critical trauma cases.
• Israel bombs Christian school in Gaza City, housing a large number of displaced Palestinians. 
• 60 Palestinians arrested across West Bank overnight on Sunday and Monday morning says Al Jazeera.
• Prime Minister Netanyahu’s corruption trial set to resume on Monday, exempt from hearings but may be called in to testify in a few months. 
• Palestine Red Crescent Society volunteer Osama Tayeh killed in bombing in northern Gaza’s al-Faluja area early Monday morning.
• Israeli military announces killing of Haitham Khuwajari, commander of Hamas Shati Battalion, in airstrike in the vicinity of the Al-Shati refugee camp outside of Gaza City.
• U.S. delegation to Israel expected to arrive in Israel on Monday to discuss Israel’s offensive in Gaza. 

Israel’s ground invasion expands south

In the last 24 hours, Israeli forces have targeted homes, commercial centers, and hospitals across all of the Gaza Strip, where civilians have been experiencing non-stop bombardment, killing tens if not hundreds of people. On Monday morning, Al Jazeera reported that Israeli tanks and armored vehicles began entering southern Gaza, moving towards Khan Younis from the east.

“The [military] continues to extend its ground operation against Hamas centers in all of the Gaza Strip,” Daniel Hagari told reporters in Tel Aviv.

The army added that its invasion into the south will exhibit “no less strength” than its previous offensive in the north. If allowed to continue, the attack is likely to result in thousands more civilian deaths, including children. 

Meanwhile, Hamas’s military arm, the Qassam Brigades, says that Israeli forces are withdrawing from the north, calling the Israeli operation a “failure.” Israeli Chief of General Staff, Herzi Halevi, said in a statement that the army has “fought strongly and thoroughly in the northern Gaza Strip, and we are also doing it now in the southern Gaza.”

While the U.S. pushed back last week against the expansion of Israel’s operation to the south, Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that it is “clear” that the U.S. has since given Israel the green light to continue its war efforts. 

“They do coordinate with the Americans, but they have their own plan; the Americans talk the talk, but we haven’t seen them using any real pressure to stop the Israelis or to reduce the suffering of the Palestinians,” Qarmout said. 

According to the head of Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, the military has no plans to stop its offensive and is even prepared to widen it regionally. 

“The cabinet has set us a goal, in street talk, to eliminate Hamas. This is our Munich. We will do this everywhere — in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Turkey, in Qatar. It will take a few years, but we will be there to do it,” said the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. 

Iran has also warned once again that if Israeli forces continue committing “war crimes” against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the regional war “is likely to deepen and expand,” reported al Jazeera. 

Nowhere left to go

Meanwhile, the Israeli army has continued pushing Palestinian civilians even farther south, dropping leaflets announcing that its next target will be Khan Younis. However, residents say that there is nowhere they can evacuate to that will be safe from Israel’s onslaught. 

Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan has accused Israel of moving civilians to the south of Gaza “to trap and massacre” them there.

“It has become clear that the occupation’s claim … of the existence of safe areas in the south of the Gaza Strip, and its constant call for citizens to go there, was a premeditated plan and trap to commit more massacres against unarmed civilians and displaced people in the south,” Hamdan told reporters.

Melanie Ward, chief executive of the humanitarian organization Medical Aid for Palestinians, has expressed deep concern in response to Israel’s so-called Evacuation Zone Map.

The maps, which split Gaza into over 600 zones, were published on Friday by the military to enable residents “to orient themselves and understand the instructions, and to evacuate from specific places for their safety if required.”

However, human rights organizations say it is doing the opposite. 

“I cannot overstate the fear, panic, and confusion that these Israeli maps are causing civilians in #Gaza, including my own staff. People cannot run from place to place to try to escape Israel’s bombs, nor does international law expect them to. What is being done is unconscionable,” Ward said in a post on X on Sunday. 

“All actors must comply with international humanitarian law. If you do not do so, do not complain when my office is required to act,” said The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, speaking after a four-day visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank.

‘Israel willfully targeting remaining medical facilities’

As Israel ruthlessly bombs all areas of the besieged enclave and injuries mount, the delivery of vital humanitarian aid and relief while maintaining the safety of civil defense workers has become an increasingly difficult task.

“Israeli forces have separated the central region from Khan Younis and the rest of the southern Gaza Strip, making it more dangerous for us to deliver aid in those areas,” spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) told Al Jazeera on Sunday. 

“Our biggest challenge in the north is running out of fuel. Even during the truce period, we were not able to deliver the fuel truck that was allocated to our medics in that area. If this continues our ambulances will be unable to be dispatched,” Farsakh continued.

On Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent said two paramedics and a third person were injured after Israeli forces opened fire on two ambulances in the Faluja area, north of the Gaza Strip.

Dr Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, says 34 medics have been detained by Israel, including the head of Al-Shifa’ Hospital. 

Al-Qidra added that Israel has destroyed 56 ambulances and that the entire health sector has collapsed, leaving them unable to provide life-saving treatment due to the lack of equipment and staff. 

Al-Qidra said Israel is “willfully targeting the remaining medical facilities in the north so residents are forced to move to the south,” adding that only 403 patients have been allowed to leave Gaza for treatment.

“We appeal to the world to put an end to this genocidal war on Gaza,” he said. “We call on all parties to work towards providing a humanitarian corridor whereby fuel and medical teams are allowed in and victims are allowed outside.”

‘Handing out guns like candy’

Since October 7, Israeli settler violence against Palestinians has dramatically escalated in the occupied territories with impunity. On Sunday night, illegal Israeli settlers near Ramallah shot two Palestinian children, aged 12 and 14, in the legs, wounding them. 

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been handing out assault rifles purchased for “civilian security teams,” and Prime Minister Netanyahu have been encouraging the arming of Israeli civilians across the occupied territories since the war on Gaza began. According to Israel’s Channel 13 TV, there have been 150,000 applications for gun licenses since October 7; in contrast, there were 42 applications in the same period last year.

Yisrael Avisar, the head of the Firearms Licensing Department, has since quit his job following Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s decision to issue gun permits to Israeli citizens without proper training. 

“They are handing out guns like candy,” a security official told Haaretz. 

The Israeli media outlet also reported that firearm licenses were granted to people not meeting the criteria, including mental and physical health requirements.

Still, Ben-Gvir has defended his weapons distribution policy as “clear and continuous.”