Israel-Hamas war: Israel divides Gaza into numbered blocks telling Palestinians to move before bombings begin
Israel’s determination to completely dismantle Hamas means that takeover of the south is an absolute military necessity.
The southern campaign has already started, with air raids in and around the city of Khan Younis fully underway.
The problem is that, to all intents and purposes, most of the surviving Gazan population is now crowded into the south already.
Many had moved south from towns or cities like Gaza City, and have been told by Israeli defence forces they need to move again, further south, to the Rafah Crossing area that borders Egypt, or to the barren coastal strip of al Mawasi.
A family evacuating from Gaza
Under the Israeli plan to ensure people move as safely as possible, they have divided Gaza into numbered blocks, and people living there, in theory, will be told when to move before bombings begin.
How long they will have to comply is unknown.
Leaflets have been dropped with a QR code linked to an interactive map with the numbered districts marked on it.
By any metric, to assume people now displaced, living rough, scared and disorientated, and unlikely to have internet when they don’t have food or water, could navigate the map would seem a bit of a stretch.
Sky News teams in Gaza met Muhamed Rayis holding the leaflet with the QR code on it. He says he followed the instructions, moved to a safe area, and then got bombed.
“Look at this is the leaflet. How can you bomb civilians in their homes? You’re telling people that Wadi Alsalga is safe, how come then you bomb there, at least warn us before you bomb us, they have bombed 3 or 4 houses, they’ve displaced people, why?”
Gaza resident Mohamed Rayis seen with a leaflet marked with a QR code linking to an interactive map
‘We do not know where to go’
“We do not know where to go, because they have told us the central area is safe, and we came here and now they started to bomb us here too, so we do not know where to go. This is their leaflet!” he shouted.
What we have seen from our daily feed of pictures from our teams inside Gaza illustrates just how difficult and dangerous living in the south has become – and how difficult it will be for the IDF to complete its operation without killing further large numbers of civilians.
In a smoky haze in Khan Younis, our teams filmed as people tried to move during a break in the aerial bombardment.
They pick their way through what is now a battlefield from the north to the south of the Strip.
Residents walking through war-torn Gaza
Donkey-drawn carts navigate their way around rubble and battle-scarred roads, while a steady stream of people move on foot. But there is little sanctuary to be found in Gaza.
Another set of pictures, scenes that have become all too familiar, show people heading into the rubble searching for the living and the dead.
It’s a constant, just like the airstrikes.
At the Nasser Medical Complex, a survivor dazed and covered in dust makes his way inside.
This man and a little boy alongside are told to sit on the floor in one ward, before being treated for their wounds.
An injured man and child at Nasser Medical Complex
They’re among the luckiest of the injured as their injuries aren’t severe, but their faces are a picture of pure trauma and shock, and that doesn’t just go away.
The more seriously injured are rushed through the crowds, bundled into cars, and taken to the emergency room.
The hospitals that are still functioning in Gaza can barely cope, while the numbers of dead rise every day.
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‘Death toll may reach 75,000’
Situation is ‘catastrophically bad’
The Hamas-controlled health ministry says 70% of fatalities are women and children.
Doctor Nuradin Khatib is a junior doctor at the Nasser Hospital and he says it is a disaster.
Doctor Nuradin Khatib tells Sky News the situation is ‘catastrophically bad’
Patients inside Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza
“The pressure on the hospital with the number of patients and injuries has doubled,” he said.
“The situation is catastrophically bad, there are no beds for the patients, we have to treat the patients on the hospital floor as there are no beds to put them on, people are short of everything.”
“In all honesty the situation is extremely bad, the huge number of the injured as well the other patients who have long-term illnesses in all departments, it is beyond our power,” he added.
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Israeli airstrikes resume in southern Gaza
Aid supplies were initially stopped after the ceasefire ended but appear to have resumed as some aid has entered Gaza -though it’s a trickle, and nowhere near enough.
The IDF’s operations continue in the north and are developing in the south, and their campaign to oust Hamas continues.
The biggest concern though for the international community is what happens to all the civilians who are not sure where to go to find safety.
Many people in and around Khan Younis in the south have come from the north, and are having to move yet again.
In reality though, there’s not much further south they can go.
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World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Do Trump and Netanyahu really get along?
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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IDF chief says conditions ‘created’ for Gaza ceasefire
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal ?
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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