‘Just give up and surrender’: Hamas outgunned and outnumbered – and some in Gaza blame leader
The gulf between Israel and the US on one hand, and Arab states and much of the rest of the world on the other, couldn’t really be greater.
With the US diplomatic backing, and with more of its ammunition supplies being shipped to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that to achieve his goals of rescuing hostages – but more importantly, in reality, the destruction of Hamas – then a ceasefire is a non-starter.
The UN secretary general and the Qatari and Egyptian peace negotiators are clearly exasperated but insist that they’ll continue to look for a way to narrow the gulf between the two sides and find a solution.
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Hundreds of desperate Gazans queue hours for food
Despite their admirable work, in truth they won’t get very far for the time being because neither of the protagonists – Hamas and Israel – seem awfully interested in a ceasefire anyway.
That might change because the fighting is intensifying now, and while both sides are losing men, the Hamas numbers are significantly higher.
They are outnumbered and outgunned.
The Israeli Defence Forces have certainly stepped up face-to-face confrontation with their enemy, and the fighting is taking place in new areas.
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Hamas footage shows fighting with IDF
Pictures shared on social media from the heart of the city of Khan Younis show empty streets and the sounds of heavy fighting reverberating around its very centre.
People have been told to evacuate the centre, which had until now been spared the same level of destruction seen in an around Gaza City to the north.
Both Hamas and the IDF say they are engaged in street-by-street fighting.
But away from the tactical nuances and shifts in strategy on the battlefield, the overwhelming concern of the international community isn’t who is winning, but what is happening to the civilian population.
And that is properly grim.
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Order in Gaza appears to be breaking down
Overflowing hospitals have put up tents outside to treat the injured
People are now living on the sides of roads, outside hospitals – basically wherever they think is safe – in makeshift plastic tents.
Many feel it is simply too dangerous to be inside buildings.
Our team inside Gaza found Hassan al A’ajam living on the street with 21 other members of his immediate family.
They evacuated from Gaza City and are now in the central part of the Strip.
The aid network is disintegrating. Pic: AP
“We can’t even find a room let alone a house, there are no spaces even in the schools to go to,” he told Sky News.
“We live on the streets because we have nowhere else to go and don’t know where to go. We have found nothing, absolutely nothing.”
“The children don’t know anything or see anything else apart from horror. Their state of horror is so extreme that life for them is dead.
“The most important thing is a truce, and that’s what we want right now, we want to go back to our homes.”
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Across Gaza, the few hospitals that are barely functioning are overflowing – some of them have put up tents outside to treat the steady stream of injured brought to their doors.
It’s clear that many here have had enough of the rising number of dead, the lack of aid, and the continuing fighting.
Some blame Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, himself.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
“We are tired, it’s enough, I don’t have any breath left in me!” one man shouted at our camera inside Gaza.
“What resolution? Just give up and surrender!”
“This is the act of idiots! He caused the death of his own people – Sinwar has killed his own people!”
A displaced man in Gaza blames Hamas
Conditions really are intolerable, and there is simply not enough aid getting in. Aid agencies say that their whole operations are grinding to a halt.
The aid network is disintegrating.
And if that happens then these people will have absolutely nothing.
Nine of a doctor’s 10 children have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on their home in Gaza, which also left her surviving son badly injured and her husband in a critical condition.
Warning: This article contains details of child deaths
Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Clinic in the Nasser Medical Complex, was at work during the attack on her home, south of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Friday.
Graphic footage shared by the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence shows the bodies of at least seven small children being pulled from the rubble.
Rescuers can be seen battling fires and searching through a collapsed building, shouting out when they locate a body, before bringing the children out one by one and wrapping their remains in body bags.
In the footage, Dr Al Najjar’s husband, Hamdi Al Najjar, who is also a doctor, is put on to a stretcher and then carried to an ambulance.
The oldest of their children was only 12 years old, according to Dr Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas.
Nine children were killed in the strike. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” he wrote in a social media post.
“In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted – Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
British doctors describe ‘horrific’ and ‘unimaginable’ attack
Two British doctors working at Nasser Hospital described the attack as “horrific” and “unimaginable” for Dr Al Najjar.
Speaking in a video diary on Friday night, Dr Graeme Groom said his last patient of the day was Dr Al Najjar’s 11-year-old son, who was badly injured and “seemed much younger as we lifted him on to the operating table”.
Hamdi Al Najjar, Dr Al Najjar’s husband who is also a doctor, was taken to hospital. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
The strike “may or may not have been aimed at his father”, Dr Groom said, adding that the man had been left “very badly injured”.
Dr Victoria Rose said the family “lived opposite a petrol station, so I don’t know whether the bomb set off some massive fire”.
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
‘No political or military connections’
Dr Groom added: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here.
“The father was a physician at Nasser Hospital. He had no political and no military connections. He doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media, and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”
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Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies
He said it was “a particularly sad day”, while Dr Rose added: “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza.”
Sky News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.
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Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began when the militant group stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others.
Israel’s military response has flattened large areas of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
World
UN’s Antonio Guterres condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes
The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.
He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.
A woman at the site of an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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Gaza: ‘Loads of children with huge burns’
Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.
The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.
Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.
Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.
Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.
A body is carried out of rubble after an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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‘Almost everyone depends on aid’ in Gaza
The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.
The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.
The leaders of the UK, France and Canada are “on the wrong side of humanity and (…) history”, he said, after they threatened “concrete action” against Israel this week if it continues its “egregious” military operations in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.
Palestinians search for casualties in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.
Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
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The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.
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Four tracks at the station were closed in the evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.
Hamburg is Germany‘s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
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